Cell Phantom
by Ghostboy814
Summary: Final third of the Ninja Phantom trilogy! Danny, Sam, and Tucker must work together with Naruto and co. to defeat enemies and bloodlines old and new.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, all! This is the final stage of the Ninja Phantom trilogy. A warning to readers: for the sections of the story that take place in Konoha, the setting is later in the series than is aired on Toonami. If you've only seen English episodes, as of this posting you'll have seen up to Episode 63. I suggest that you go on Youtube and type in "Naruto Episode 64", and go from there. You won't have to go all the way to the end (episode 210, I think). This story only really takes elements from up to episode 125 or so. (Those of you who know what I'm talking about, that's around where the Valley of the End fight is, right?) Since there isn't a whole lot of chronology in DP, the sections that take place in Amity Park don't really have a specific time to them.

Also, this takes many elements from the first two parts of the trilogy, so if you haven't read Nine Tailed Ghost or Kekkei Genkai, I suggest you do so that you're not left in the dark.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

Tucker and Sam ran up to where they had seen most of the fighting taking place and saw Danny standing over Vlad's prone body.

"Dude…" Tucker said, awed. "You won."

"I…I can hardly believe it," Danny admitted, the enlarged veins of his _byakugan_ receding as he cancelled the _dojutsu_.

"You didn't even have to use your Wail, either," Sam noted. Danny nodded.

"All the better. The last thing we need is for him to see it and copy it with that _sharingan_." Just then, Vlad's eyes fluttered open and he slowly came to.

"What…" he muttered. Danny immediately placed a sandaled foot on his back, keeping him trapped.

"I'll let you go once you answer a couple of questions, Plasmius," Danny spat. "First off, how exactly did you get the _sharingan_?"

"A bit of research," Vlad replied.

"How about a bit more detail?" Danny asked as he drove his heel into the man's chest.

"Very well," Vlad said with a grimace. "I traced my family's history back a few generations, and it turns out that my mother has an ancestor who was an Uchiha, an S-ranked missing nin. With the technology in my lab, it wasn't difficult to activate the gene that coded for the _sharingan_."

"Makes sense," Danny mused. Suddenly, too quickly for Danny to interfere, Vlad whipped a small, black communicator out of his pocket.

"Do it now," he commanded into the device. Immediately, an invisible force knocked Danny skyward with an uppercut as it phased upwards out of the ground.

"Wh-what was that?" Danny asked as he hit the ground and shakily got up.

"An ally," Vlad replied. The invisible assailant made himself visible, and Danny, Sam, and Tucker paled.

"You…" he gasped.

"Me." Standing in front of him was none other than Dan Phantom. The torn bottom edge of his cape brushed against the ground as he slowly walked towards Danny. As he approached his younger self, his eyes turned into those of the _sharingan_. A second later, they became something entirely different. The iris was still red, but instead of three _toeme_ the pupil looked like a kaleidoscopic, three-pointed star. He grabbed Danny by the throat and hefted him up into the air, so that the boy's eyes were inches away from his own.

"_Mangekyou Sharingan_," he hissed. Immediately, time seemed to stand still for the two Phantoms. The sky became red and the sun turned black. The clouds also became black, and stood completely still.

"Where are we?" Danny demanded as imposingly as he could with a hand around his windpipe.

"In a universe I created with the _mangekyou sharingan_, a higher level of _sharingan_ than that of the cheesehead."

"And how do you have it?"

"I'm part-cheesehead, remember? Since his _kekkei genkai_ was in him since birth, when I was created from his ghost half I got it too. Unfortunately, you received your _byakugan_ artificially after you were supposed to turn into me, so I didn't get that as well." He shrugged. "But it doesn't matter. After Vlad released me from that annoying thermos, he taught me how to use my _sharingan_, and I took it one step further."

"So why can't Vlad do this?" Danny asked, as he gestured wildly around at the bizarre dimension.

"One can only achieve the _mangekyou sharingan_ by killing their closest friend, and Vlad has yet to kill our father. In my timeline, however, I stood by and watched my friends and family perish in a massive fireball of highly combustible condiments. I as good as killed them, and that satisfied the condition. Which reminds me…for the next seventy-two hours, you will watch as our friends and family are slowly annihilated in the Nasty Burger accident." Dan's red eyes glowed even brighter than normal for a second, and then he vanished, leaving Danny alone in the mysterious universe. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and when it cleared, Danny was in his human form and standing in front of the fast food joint. The spark was right next to the sauce tanks…the gauge on the tanks was heavily in the red…the tanks were shaking uncontrollably, seconds away from exploding…his friends and family were tied to the tanks with ecto-ropes, the last moments of their lives ticking away…

"Danny, help!" he heard Sam scream.

"SAM!" he yelled, as he rushed towards the restaurant. His eyes grew wide as she, along with everyone else he cared about (and Lancer) were engulfed by flames, their wide eyes focused on him until the explosion ripped through their bodies and their eyeballs, along with the rest of them, were incinerated.

"NO!" Danny screamed as he sank to his knees. Sweat and tears were running down his face as he watched the explosion with horror. He yelled until his voice was hoarse, then sank into a fetal position and began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds remaining," Dan's sneering voice came from everywhere at once. There was another flash of light, and the whole thing began again…

Danny fell to the ground, screaming, after the longest seventy-two hours of his entire life. Watching them die…watching them all perish over and over again…it was too much for him…he could feel his sanity cracking and threatening to shatter.

"Danny!" Tucker and Sam yelled, concerned. They hadn't been able to hear what Dan had said to Danny other than the words _mangekyou sharingan_, and they didn't know what had happened after that. What had felt to Danny like seventy-two hours was only a second in reality. To them, after they heard Dan say something to their friend, Danny immediately fell to the ground, screaming bloody murder.

"No!" Danny yelled, thrusting a palm out at the source of their voices. He couldn't hear their calls for help…not again…he couldn't watch them plead for him to save them, just for him to be unable to…just for him to be forced to watch them die a horrifying death…

"It's too late," Dan sneered to them. "You can't save him, not when he's trapped within his own mind."

"It's never too late to save him!" Sam asserted. She turned to Danny. "Danny? Come on, speak to me! Everything's going to be okay…you can beat this guy!" She gasped as an ecto-blast landed on the ground less than a foot in front of her. Danny shakily stood up, his breathing heavy and his pupilless green eyes darting all around.

"Need…ghost zone…Clockwork…" he muttered. He was speaking like a crazy person, in a soft voice that implied that he was speaking only to himself, but loudly enough so that everyone could hear him.

"You see?" Dan smirked. "His mind's completely shot. I think I'll humor him…as if he'd even be able to find Clockwork's realm in his state…" he created a portal to the ghost zone, hefted Danny up by the back of his high-collared t-shirt, and thrust him through it, closing the portal behind him. "Now, where were we…" he asked himself as he stalked towards Sam and Tucker.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!!**

* * *

Clockwork sighed.

"This is all my fault…" he muttered to himself as he flew through the Ghost Zone in his old man form. "I told him that he didn't need to worry about Dan and Zabuza escaping because I knew that he'd be able to capture them again once they did escape…but I should have given him more advance notice that they would be escaping…I hate seeing him in this state." He saw a black and white object floating haphazardly through the green depths of the spectral dimension, and approached it.

"Danny." The Time Wizard stated as he reached his ward.

"Find…Clockwork…" Danny muttered. Clockwork whacked him on the head with his staff.

"Danny." He repeated.

"Clockwork knew Dan would get out…didn't tell me…didn't warn me…" the boy murmured, his eyes glazed over and out of focus, his gaze distracted.

"If I had told you beforehand, you would've spent too much time worrying."

"Could have prepared…_mangekyou sharingan_…"

"You couldn't have prepared for something like that, believe me. I'm going to send you back to Konoha, a little ahead of the time you were there before. You're going to help out Naruto and Sakura, and afterwards you'll be strong enough to take on Dan. Do you understand?"

"Not help…Sasuke…?"

"That's the point. You'll need to bring him back."

"Tucker…Sam…" Clockwork thought for a second.

"Yes…yes, they can come as well. They could use the training, and they will assist you when the fight returns to Amity Park." He created a blue portal that Sam and Tucker fell out of. Their clothes and skin were covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt, and not a little rubble.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Sam growled as soon as she saw Clockwork. "Why did you let him get like this?" She gestured to Danny.

"It had to be this way," Clockwork said. "I didn't want to, but it was the only way for him to get into the Ghost Zone."

"And why didn't you simply stop Dan yourself?"

"He exists outside of time; he's immune to my powers. He and Zabuza would have destroyed me had I not fled."

"Zabuza? He's back too?" Tucker asked worriedly. Clockwork nodded, his face stony.

"They're coming. You need to go…I already told Danny that I'm sending the three of you to Konohagakure, to assist Naruto and Sakura in their mission to bring back Sasuke. The two of you will receive ninja training and will eventually become a _shinobi_ and _kunoichi_ of Konoha, just like Danny." He created a blue portal with his staff. "Now go." Tucker grabbed Danny and passed though the portal. Sam began walking through, but turned back around to face Clockwork, her right foot still in the circular portal.

"I understand that you did what you had to do. But I still don't forgive you for making him this way."

"He'll recover, don't wo-" Clockwork began, but Sam held up a hand to silence him.

"He shot at me. You know everything; you should know without me having to tell you how much seeing him that helpless and lost hurt me." Without another word, she turned tail and stepped through the portal. Less than a second after the space-time portal closed behind her, a green interdimensional one opened up on Clockwork's other side.

"Well, well, well…it seems my weakness managed to find you after all…" Dan mused as he passed through his portal.

"I will never tell you where I sent them," Clockwork asserted.

"You won't have to," a third voice sneered as its owner, Momouchi Zabuza, stepped through the portal that Dan had left open. "I can make a pretty good guess."

"I know you can. That's why I scrambled the technology in my tower before I fled, so that it would take time for you to set the coordinates for your destination." Zabuza growled as he hefted his mammoth sword.

"Curse you!" He shouted as he brought the sword down in a vertical sweep that would have cut the Time Wizard in half. Clockwork shifted into his baby form.

"Would you really hit a baby?" He asked half-jokingly. Zabuza grunted and the sword continued on it's descent and was less than a foot away from him…

Just before it made contact, time itself seemed to slow down, though Clockwork hadn't even touched his staff. As the Master of Time's red eyes glowed more and more intensely, the very fabric of the ghost zone began to bend towards him. Clockwork's eyes flashed a blinding red, and when it subsided there was a deep, jagged scar just below his left eye, a mirror image of the one on his right.

"I know, Samantha…I know," he said sadly. A second later he vanished.

"Where did he go?" the member of the seven _shinobi_ swordsmen roared.

"No idea," Dan quipped angrily. He brought a hand to his chin and stroked his white goatee thoughtfully. He snapped as he came to a realization, and immediately duplicated into four. Three duplicates took off in opposite directions, scouring the ghost zone for the Time Master.

"While the other me's are looking for him, the two of us shall go to Clock Tower to try and unscramble that old fool's technology so that we can find those three. You do know where they're headed, right?" Zabuza nodded.

"Yes…they think that by getting the aid of Konoha ninja, they might have a chance against us. Pitiful. The two of us could easily ravage Hidden Leaf Village. Let's go." The two specters took off into the swirling green depths of the Zone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!!**

* * *

Sam and Tucker dragged Danny, who had reverted back to human form and passed out seconds after they'd passed through the portal, through the dense forest that they'd found themselves in.

"He could've at least brought us right to wherever we were supposed to go…" Sam groused. "And can't you get a GPS signal yet?" She snapped at Tucker.

"I'm trying, I'm trying, yeesh…" Tucker replied, exasperated as he fiddled with his PDA with the hand not helping to carry his friend. "But I can't seem to get a signal. It's like we're in some kind of low-tech zone…all I have are basic functions: address book, word processing, and the calculator. And solitaire…gotta love that solitaire."

"This isn't the time, Tucker," Sam growled. Tucker gulped and put the PDA away. A couple of minutes later, they stumbled upon a wide dirt road that cut through the trees.

"Finally, a road. This'll lead us to civilization, and hopefully that Konohagakure place Clockwork mentioned," Tucker stated.

"If we take it the right way," Sam added.

"Ever the Goth pessimist…" Tucker sighed to himself. The two of them picked Danny up once again. They decided to follow the road in a direction that Sam said was east based on the position of the sun. The two of them continued to drag Danny down the road and after what felt like several hours, they were growing exhausted. Their backs were hunched and they were sweating profusely.

"Why…is Danny…so heavy?" Tucker gasped. Sam suddenly stood up straight.

"Dammit, Tucker, we forgot about his weights!" Tucker clapped a hand to his forehead.

"You're right!" they set Danny down and unbuckled the weights that were attached to his wrists and ankles, then easily picked him up again. They were shocked at how much lighter he was without them, and wondered exactly how much weight he had been running around with for the past few days.

"He's light as a feather!" Tucker exclaimed happily. The two of them felt re-energized now that their load was so much lighter, and took off running. It wasn't long before they saw the outlines of three people ahead of them.

"Come on, maybe they'll know if we're going the right way," Sam said. She and Tucker picked up their pace until they reached the travelers. After a few minutes, they were able to see them in better detail.

Their first impression was that these people weren't dressed properly for the weather. It had to be at least seventy degrees out, but two of them were wearing jackets and the third was wearing a sweatshirt. The tallest person was wearing a large white overcoat with a high collar that reached the middle of his head. The one of middling height had on a gray hooded jacket with the hood up, so they couldn't see any of his features. The shortest was wearing a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt with the hood down. The person's hair was difficult to describe…it was black, but not glossy black like Sam's. In fact, it could just as easily be described as blue.

"Uh, hi!" Tucker began. The three turned around. They could immediately tell that the taller two were boys, and the shorter was a girl. The tallest, the one in the overcoat, was also wearing round sunglasses that made him look inexpressive and serious. The shorter boy's gray jacket turned out to have a fur-lined hood. He had odd triangular tattoos on his cheekbones, and a small, white puppy was poking its head out of the top of the jacket. The girl had large, pupilless, lavender eyes. She was pressing her two index fingers together nervously.

"We've been tracing you for a long time," the tallest said. A second later, a small bug that Sam hadn't known was there took off of her shoulder and landed on his finger. Tucker and Sam shot surprised looks at each other.

"You're not from around here…Akamaru doesn't recognize your scent at all," the second added. The puppy yipped as its owner patted it on the head.

"You're right, we're not from around here…we're looking for a place called Konohagakure. Are we going in the right direction?" Sam asked them. The three immediately tensed up.

"Why do you want to go to Konoha?" the tall, mysterious boy asked. "What business do you have there?"

"We're not sure why we're being sent there," Tucker said.

"Then I cannot tell you. As _shinobi_ of Konoha, it is our duty to protect our village. We will not allow strangers inside if they do not have a good reason for being there," the boy replied coolly.

"Please," Sam pleaded. "Our friend is hurt and needs help!" She and Tucker brought Danny forward so the three strangers could see him.

"Danny?" The girl asked, surprising both Tucker and Sam and her companions.

"Hinata? You know this kid?" The second boy asked her. She nodded.

"Yes. He stayed in Konoha just before the Chuunin Exams. Team 7 trained him and he became a Leaf _shinobi_."

"So is that what this means?" Tucker asked as he held up Danny's _hitai-ate_. "Danny was wearing it; I took it off when he fainted." He held it out to the three strangers. The puppy, Akamaru, sniffed the forehead protector and barked once.

"It has Iruka-sensei's scent on it," Akamaru's owner stated. "He must have graduated from the academy." The other two nodded.

"Very well. You may accompany us back to Konohagakure…but you must speak with the _hokage_ as soon as we arrive." Tucker and Sam nodded. "I am Shino Aburame," the boy introduced himself. "and my teammates are Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuuga." Tucker squinted at Hinata.

"When Danny came back, he had the same eyes as you," He stated. Hinata's eyes widened. Shino bent down and lifted one of Danny's eyelids.

"He does have your clan's eyes. Why?" Hinata looked around fearfully.

"_Sandaime Hokage-sama_ allowed it. But you must not tell anyone, especially anyone from my clan," she warned.

"Of course we won't tell!" Kiba exclaimed. Shino remained silent.

"So…can we get going?" Sam asked. The others nodded and continued along the road. After a while, the six of them approached the huge gates of Konohagakure. Sam and Tucker's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the sight of the massive stone gates.

"Whoa…" Tucker murmured. When they were about five hundred feet away, the gates slowly opened with a loud creaking noise. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata calmly walked through the gates as though they had done it so often that the sight didn't awe them anymore. The five of them (or six, if you count Danny) entered the village, and Sam's and Tucker's heads turned every which way in order to take in the sight of all of the colorful buildings and people. They approached the Hokage Monument.

"This place is huge!" Sam exclaimed.

"It's great, isn't it," Kiba said proudly. "Come on, we have to go to Hokage Tower, and meet Tsunade there." The five of them waved to the security guards and entered the building. They approached a woman with short black hair who was sitting behind a desk.

"Shizune." Shino said.

"Yes?" The woman asked as she stood up.

"We'd like to report the status of our mission to Tsunade." Shizune looked past him at Sam and Tucker, who were carrying Danny.

"Who are these people? That boy looks like he needs to go to the hospital!"

"After we meet with the _hokage_, Shizune."

"Okay, if you're sure…I'll patch you through." She pressed the button on the intercom on her desk.

"Tsunade, Team 10 is here to report the status of their mission, along with three visitors." She turned up to face them. "Go on through." The five of them opened the door and entered the _hokage_'s office.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!!**

* * *

"Your mission was successful? Congratulations, and here's your pay," A woman who looked to be around twenty years old, with blonde hair tied in twin ponytails, a green jacket with the _kanji_ for 'gambling' in the center of her back, and gargantuan assets said as she marked something down on a pad with a black paintbrush and handed the three _shinobi_ small envelopes containing their paychecks. "Now, would you mind telling me who these three people are?" Tucker immediately zipped in front of the three members of Team 10. 

"I'm Tucker Foley. That's T.F., or Too Fine," he said, then waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Tsunade's left eyebrow twitched.

BAM

"I'm too beautiful to die!" Tucker wailed as he sailed through the third wall in a row. By the time he reached the fourth, he'd run out of speed and simply crashed against the wall and fell to the floor.

"You're several decades too young for me," Tsunade yelled at him as he stumbled through the Tucker-shaped holes in three successive walls back into her office. Just then, the door to her office flew open.

"_Tsunade no baa-chan_!" Naruto called as he entered the room. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched again.

BAM

"Owie…" Naruto muttered as he landed in a heap on top of Tucker.

"I'm not old!" Tsunade shouted.

"Hey…Naruto…" Tucker mumbled. Naruto looked down and saw whom he'd landed on.

"Tucker?" He looked up. "Sam? Danny? What are you guys doing here?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," Tsunade growled. "Now, could someone _please_ explain to me who these people are?" Naruto got up off of Tucker and stepped to the front.

"A while ago, before the Chuunin Exams, Sasuke, Sakura and I were sent to their hometown in order to fight the ghost of Zabuza Momouchi. A little while after that, Danny came here, to Konoha. We trained him and he became a _shinobi_ of Konoha. I don't know why he came back, or why Tucker and Sam are with him, though…" he explained.

"We were given vague instructions, but first tell us something. Isn't the _hokage_ an old man? When did he retire?" Sam asked. Immediately, everyone's gazes became downcast. Except for that of Shino, who seemed to be immune to all displays of emotion.

"During the final stage of the Chuunin Exams, which _genin_ participate in if they want to be promoted to _chuunin_, a man named Orochimaru attacked Konoha. Orochimaru is a missing-nin who was once loyal to the Leaf and had even been considered for the position of _hokage_ after my _sensei_, the Third, retired. However, it was discovered that Orochimaru conducted multiple _experiments_," the way Tsunade said the last word made everyone cringe. "He experimented on both humans and animals, trying to create a _jutsu_ that would allow him to live forever."

"That's horrible," Sam growled, the animal-rights activist in her flaring up. "A person like that deserves the worst punishment imaginable." She was shaking with rage, her eyes blazing.

"I agree with you," Tsunade said. "Anyway, after being exiled from Konoha, he formed his own village, the Hidden Sound Village. He made an alliance with the Sand, Sunagakure, and the two villages attacked Konoha. During the attack, Orochimaru fought and killed the Third. As one of Sarutobi's students, I was chosen to take his place as the _godaime hokage_. Now, why are the three of you here?"

"Clockwork told us something about helping Naruto and Sakura bring Sasuke back, but I don't really understand…what happened to Sasuke? Did he get captured or something?" Tucker asked. Tsunade chuckled dryly, and Naruto's gaze became stony.

"I wish it were so. During the attack and its aftermath, Sasuke realized that he wasn't nearly as powerful as he'd originally thought. I don't know whether or not he ever told you this, but Sasuke's goal in life is to kill his older brother, Itachi. He wants his brother dead because Itachi massacred the Uchiha Clan." Tucker and Sam gasped.

"I know…it was a horrible sight, seeing all of them. I was a medic-nin at the time, so I had been assigned to check for survivors along with ANBU. After seeing the carnage…I couldn't eat for days afterwards. Anyway, Sasuke must have thought that he'd never gain enough power to defeat Itachi on his own, so he ran away to join Orochimaru." Sam and Tucker shuddered. They were forcibly reminded of what Danny had told them of the alternate timeline, in which Danny had fled to Vlad after the Nasty Burger accident. Just then, Danny's eyes fluttered open.

"What…" he muttered in the crazy-sounding voice.

"What happened to him?" Tsunade asked.

"His most powerful enemy used a _jutsu_ on him," Sam explained. "I think he called it the _mangekyou sharingan_, or something." Tsunade gasped.

"Are you serious?"

"Y-yeah…why?" Sam asked, concerned. Tucker noticed that Naruto was breathing heavily, and beads of sweat were forming on his spiky hair.

"Danny needs to go to the hospital. Now." She turned to team 10. "You three are dismissed." Shino and Kiba filed out, but Hinata remained in the room.

"I-is it okay if I s-stay with D-danny?" She asked timidly.

"Only qualified medic-nins will be allowed to treat him directly, but you may wait in the hospital and visit him when the treatment is finished. You all may." She easily picked Danny up with one hand and left her office, Tucker, Sam, Naruto, and Hinata following in her wake. They left Hokage Tower and made their way to the hospital, attracting many a confused gaze from any nearby villagers. Once they entered the hospital, Tsunade transferred Danny to a pair of medic-nins, who took him to the ER for treatment. The four teens all sat down on a bench outside of the room Danny was being treated in.

"N-naruto? What's wrong?" Hinata asked. Tucker and Sam looked more closely at Naruto and saw that he was pale and even more nervous than before.

"The _mangekyou sharingan_," he said. "I was there when Itachi used it on Sasuke…it wasn't a pretty sight…Sasuke was screaming bloody murder once it was finished."

"So was Danny," Tucker said.

"What happened to Sasuke after that?" Sam asked worriedly.

"He was hospitalized for days…after that we fought, then he decided to go with the Sound Four and join Orochimaru…we tried to get him back, but failed. But I _will_ bring Sasuke back. I promised Sakura that I would, and I never go back on my word. That's my _nindo_," he asserted.

The next few hours were very tense. The four of them rarely moved from their positions on the bench, and barely, if ever, spoke. After a couple of hours, Hinata began to nod off. She leaned sideways and rested her head on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto chuckled and put an arm around her shoulder. They remained like this for some time, until the light above the door to the room Danny was in turned off. Everyone jumped, and Hinata woke up, when the door opened and Danny was wheeled out on a gurney. The four of them rushed over to him. He was still unconscious, but he looked more peaceful. His eyes were still, instead of darting around inside of his head like before.

"Uh…excuse me…but I have to get Danny to his room…" the medic-nin wheeling the gurney said.

"Of course. We're sorry," Hinata said as the four of them pulled back and allowed the man some space. He wheeled Danny down the hall, then rounded a corner and was out of sight. Half a second later, a pink-haired _kunoichi_ ran up to them.

"I just got on break," she panted. "I heard Danny came back, and was in here. What happened?"

"Yeah, he's back…Sam and Tucker are here, too," Naruto said. Tucker and Sam peered out from behind him.

"Hi," Sam said.

"Hey, guys. Good to see you again."

"Sakura…you cut your hair," Tucker noted.

"Yeah…" Konoha's Cherry Blossom said with a high-pitched laugh as she fingered her short locks. "I cut it during the Chuunin Exams…it's more practical this way."

"So how did those go, anyway?" the chocolate-skinned boy asked. "Did any of you end up getting promoted to _chuunin_?"

"Just one, a guy named Shikamaru. You haven't met him yet," said Sakura. "But what happened with Danny? Why is he in the hospital?"

"Remember when Sasuke was here, the day before he ran away?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"I don't think I'll ever forget…" Sakura murmured, her gaze set on the ground. A single tear made it's way down her cheek. Naruto immediately realized what he'd done and tried to console his friend.

"Sorry! I didn't know it still hurt you this much! Honest!" Sakura merely nodded, and Naruto took this as an apology.

"Anyway, the thing that put Sasuke in here is also responsible for Danny." Sakura nodded again.

"Listen, I have to go…my break's over…I'll see you guys later," the _kunoichi_ said softly, then turned tail and fled.

"Nice going," Tucker noted sarcastically.

"Shut it…" Naruto growled.

"So…what should we do now? Danny's still unconscious, what do we do until he's feeling better again?" Sam asked.

"I say we go get some ramen!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "To Ichiraku's!"

"Danny mentioned that place at lunch the other day, when he brought that cup ramen," Sam whispered to Tucker as the four of them left the hospital building. It wasn't long before they arrived at Ichiraku's.

"One Miso Ramen, _ojii-chan_!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Make that two," Hinata added.

"Uh…can I have one of those also?" Tucker asked.

"Me too," Sam said. "It doesn't have any meat in it, right?" Hinata and Naruto shook their heads.

"Coming right up, Naruto and friends!" the old man said happily, and began preparing the food.

"Did Danny ever tell you about Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked.

"He mentioned it, said it was really good."

"Ichiraku's is the best ramen ever!" Naruto asserted. "Believe it!" Ayame placed the four bowls in front of them.

"Here you are," she said kindly. Tucker opened his mouth to respond, but Sam quickly shoved her hand in front of it, keeping him from saying anything.

"Thank you _very much,_" she said. Ayame gave them a confused glance, but didn't say anything and simply turned around and returned to the interior of the ramen stand.

"You can't start hitting on every girl here," she chastised.

"Whatever you say, Sam. Whatever you say…" Tucker replied as he broke his chopsticks. Sam sighed as she broke her own chopsticks, and the two of them began eating the ramen.

"This…is _awesome!_" Sam exclaimed.

"Yeah! This is, like, the greatest food ever!" Tucker added.

"Another bowl, please!" Naruto shouted. Tucker and Sam looked over and were surprised to see that he'd already finished his bowl.

"Coming right up!"

"So, where can we stay while we're here?" Sam asked the two ninja.

"Well, when Danny was here he stayed with me. But I don't have enough room for three people…maybe they could stay at your place, Hinata?" Hinata shook her head.

"I d-don't think my f-father would be very p-pleased with that arrangement."

"Hm…maybe they could stay at the Uchiha Complex, then."

"Would they be allowed to?"

"Sasuke's not here; it's not like there's anyone else living there. The only problem would be if he demands rent or something when he comes back."

"P-perhaps, since D-danny is a r-registered _shinobi_, he can p-perform missions as the m-missing m-member of team 7 and earn rent money."

"That's a great idea, Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed as he hugged her happily. A blush immediately creeped up the Hyuuga heiress' face, and a second later she'd fainted.

"Uh…does she do that often?" Tucker asked. Naruto sighed and nodded.

"I'll take her back home…" Naruto mumbled. He picked Hinata up, carried her outside the ramen stand, and jumped away. Just after that, Ayame placed a bowl of miso ramen in front of Naruto's empty place, and put the bill in front of Tucker and Sam.

"Ryou?" Sam asked as she looked at the bill. "I've never heard of that currency…" She and Tucker sighed as they resigned themselves to a seeming eternity of washing dishes.

* * *

Word Guide (since this is posted as a DP fic and not a Naruto fic, I feel that I owe it to all of you to put this up):

_kanji-_One of the three Japanese alphabets. Kanji is derived from Chinese. It is comprised of hundreds of symbols, each of which represent an idea rather than a letter or sound.

_baa-chan_-Grandmother. The word _no_ is a connecting word, making _Tsunade no baa-chan_ mean 'Granny Tsunade.'

_mangekyou sharingan-_Literally, 'Kaleidoscopic Copy Wheel Eye.' In Naruto, it is the most advanced form of the bloodline limit _sharingan_.

_kunoichi-_female ninja.

_ojii-chan/ojii-san_-Grandfather. Here it is taken to mean 'old man'.

_nindo-_way of the ninja.

* * *

I just want all of you to know that I've already written most of chapter 5. However, college applications are due in a couple of weeks, and my parents are starting to go into 'college overload', so I'm not allowed to write any FF until the due date (January 1). But since chapter 5 is practically done anyway, it should be up within a couple of days after the first. See you then! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

Teuchi, the owner of the ramen stand, had a grim facial expression as he approached Tucker and Sam holding rubber gloves, two hairnets, and a sponge. He thrust the equipment into their outstretched arms.

"Clearly you've been through this before," he said. "The kitchen is in the back, come on…" The two were seconds away from their fate when all of a sudden-

"Wait just one youthful second!" A voice cried. The owner of the voice burst through the red flaps of Ichiraku's Ramen in the form of Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee.

"You two are the youthful friends of my youthful friend and student, Danny Fenton, correct?" He asked Sam and Tucker. The two of them nodded dumbly, so surprised by this boy's strange mannerisms and stranger attire to be able to formulate a proper response.

"Excellent! For Shizune has asked me to bring you two to the hospital, where our mutual youthful friend Danny has awoken!"

"Danny's awake?" Sam asked excitedly. Lee nodded.

"Yes! Now we must go immediately!"

"But they still haven't paid for their ramen," Teuchi noted as he brandished a metal skillet menacingly.

"Not to worry, old man, for I will cover for them!" Lee exclaimed. He reached into his green spandex and withdrew a wallet that was shaped, oddly enough, like what his face would look like in a couple of decades. Tucker and Sam surmised that the man was Lee's dad or something. Lee pulled some coins out of the head-shaped wallet and handed them over to Teuchi, who nodded contentedly.

"_Yosh_! Let us go!" Lee shouted, as he ran out of Ichiraku's and disappeared in a green blur.

"Wait!" Tucker yelled after him. "We can't run so fast! We're not ninja!" Lee popped into existence behind him, jogging in place.

"My sincerest apologies, I did not realize this. However, time is of the essence, so if you'll please excuse me," he said. He began running around them so fast it looked as though they were surrounded by a green circle, and when it stopped, Tucker and Sam were each sitting on one of Lee's shoulders.

"Let us go! And if I cannot run to the hospital carrying two people on my back in ten seconds, then I shall double my weights!" He shot forward.

"Does everyone around here wear weights?" Sam yelled as she dug her fingernails into Lee's left shoulder.

"Only myself, Danny, and Gai-_sensei_," Lee shouted back.

"Whee!" Tucker exclaimed, his arms outstretched like a pair of airplane wings. Sam rolled her eyes, but Lee looked on adoringly.

"The flames of youth burn brightly in you, friend!" He held his own arms out sideways, just like Tucker's.

"Whee!" Tucker and Lee shouted together.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sam groaned, though over the rushing of air passing them due to Lee's speed, nobody heard her. Out of the blue, Lee stopped on a dime and Sam and Tucker went flying forward off of his shoulders. They landed a good twenty feet away on the grass next to the wall of the hospital.

"_Gomen_ _nasai_!" Lee exclaimed as he ran over to them. "I did not realize that that would happen! I offer my sincerest apologies."

"How about an introduction?" Sam asked as Lee helped the two of them up. He smacked his forehead with his bandaged hand.

"Of course! How could I have been so forgetful? I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee!" Lee shouted as he struck a pose. Sam and Tucker were temporarily blinded as sunlight glinted off of Lee's pearly-white teeth. They blinked rapidly as their vision slowly returned.

"And who are you, O friends of my friend and pupil, Danny?"

"I'm Sam Manson."

"And I'm Tucker Foley." Lee nodded.

"Very well, Sam and Tucker. We are at the hospital, and since we arrived in eleven seconds, I shall buy additional weights once we have finished visiting Danny."

"Maybe we should get him flowers or something…do they have a place in the hospital where we can get some?" Sam asked. Lee shook his head.

"No. But I know of a most excellent flower shop not far from here. Let us go!" He moved to pick them up again, but Sam held her hands up.

"That's okay…maybe we should just walk," she suggested.

"Very well. The shop is in this direction!" Lee exclaimed as he pointed down the cobblestone path. He, Sam, and Tucker began making their way down the road.

"So how do you know Danny?" Tucker asked Lee.

"A long time ago, when he was first here, he had asked me to teach him _tai-jutsu_, or hand-to-hand combat. I was the one to give him his first set of weights!" He said proudly.

"So, are you in insanely good shape, just like he was when he got back?" Tucker asked.

"I train my body to its limit on a daily basis, and am Konoha's second-strongest _tai-jutsu_ master, second only to Gai-_sensei_."

"I'll take that as a yes," Sam said.

"How do you know Danny?" Lee asked them.

"We went to school with him since we were four," Tucker replied.

"I see," Lee said as he stroked his chin. A couple of minutes later, they reached a flower shop. A banner above the door read, "Yamanaka Flowers." The three of them entered, and a little bell attached to the door jingled.

"Welcome to Yamanaka's," said the girl standing behind the cash register. She had long, white-blonde hair set in a ponytail with a fringe sticking forward and light blue eyes, and was wearing a purple apron. "Oh, hi, Lee," she added, upon recognizing the spandex-clad boy. "Who are your friends?"

"Hello, Ino!" Lee exclaimed. "This is Sam, and this is Tucker," he said, and gestured to each of them as their names were announced. Ino looked Sam over.

"Can I help you?" Sam asked mildly annoyed.

"You're wearing a lot of black, and it looks like you have a really dark outlook on life…I'm surprised the flowers here aren't wilting from just being near you!" She said, then burst out laughing.

"I'll have you know that I have a greenhouse at home," Sam replied indignantly, "and the plants I take care of are much more exotic than _these_," she said as she gestured at all of the flowers.

"What, do you raise Venus Fly Traps and other plants with teeth?" Sam growled.

"Why you little-" Sam began as she stalked towards Ino, but the blonde girl waggled her index finger and began untying something around her waist, underneath her apron.

"Uh-uh," she said, then pulled out a Konoha _hitai-ate_ from underneath the apron. Sam growled again, but stopped her advance.

"Thought so," Ino said smugly as she re-tied her forehead protector.

"Humph," Sam humphed, and crossed her arms and faced the opposite direction.

"Don't mind her," Tucker said as he stepped in-between Sam and Ino. "She just has trouble admitting when she's been beate-OW!" He began hopping up and down on one foot after Sam had stepped down, hard, on the other with her combat boot. Lee looked on at the antics of his new friends, confused.

"A-_hem_," Ino coughed, grabbing everyone's attention. "I assume you're here to buy flowers, otherwise you three need to leave; my parents don't like it when people loiter in the store and don't buy anything."

"Yes, of course!" Lee exclaimed. "We are here to buy some flowers for our friend who is in the hospital!"

"Really? Who's in the hospital?" Ino asked, her need to clear the store eclipsed by her love of gossip.

"I do not believe you have met him; his name is Danny Fenton."

"Danny? That cutie Sakura mentioned, eh?" Ino asked. A small amount of steam could be seen coming out of Sam's ears.

"Eh, I'd suggest that we get the flowers and get out, otherwise they really will start to wilt," Tucker said, understanding Sam's reaction perfectly. Five minutes later they were standing outside of the shop, with Lee holding a monstrous bunch of flowers nearly half his size.

"Come again soon!" Ino said happily, then closed the door and retreated inside the shop.

"That…little…" Sam growled, her handful of daffodils slowly being crushed to death.

"Sam…we still need to get these to Danny, remember?" Tucker said, his tone gentle in an attempt to calm the enraged Goth down even an iota.

"You're right!" Sam exclaimed. She dug her combat boots into the ground, then took off in the direction of the hospital.

"_Yosh!_" Lee shouted, then took off after her.

"I hate running…" Tucker moaned as he slowly began jogging in the direction of his friends.

Sam, Lee, and a panting Tucker finally stood at the reception desk of the hospital.

"Mr. Fenton?" The nurse at the desk asked them as she searched through a number of papers. "Ah, yes, room 724." Tucker and Sam exchanged worried glances as they, along with Lee, made their way up to the room. They slowly slid open the sliding door and peeked inside.

"I can see you, you know," Danny said with a small grin as he waved to the three of them.

"Danny! My most youthful of friends and students! How are you feeling?"

"Er…youthful?" Danny replied hopefully. Lee grinned like a madman as he struck yet another pose.

"We were so worried about you!" Sam exclaimed. "What happened? What did Dan do to you?" Danny's gaze immediately became downcast. He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Tucker asked as he leaned in closer.

"He made me relive the Nasty Burger accident. For seventy-two hours straight," Danny said softly.

"But…it only took a fraction of a second," Tucker pointed out, confused.

"Maybe in the real world, but in Dan's _genjutsu_, it seemed to take three days."

"What took three days? What happened?" Sam asked, not having heard Danny's muted explanation.

"Dan made Danny relive the Nasty Burger accident over and over again," Tucker replied grimly.

"What is this accident of which you speak? Was anyone hurt?" Lee asked worriedly.

"Uh…don't worry about it," Danny answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Danny said, trying to figure out how to get the spandex lad's attention anywhere but on this sensitive subject. Finally, he said, "It was something unyouthful; you wouldn't want us to corrupt your youthfulness by telling it to you." A look of understanding dawned on Lee.

"I understand perfectly!" He exclaimed, and immediately clamped his hands over his ears.

"So…what are we going to do now that we're here?" Sam asked Danny.

"I think the reason Clockwork brought you both here is so that you can receive training," Danny mused. "When I was here last, I stayed with Naruto, though I doubt that he's got enough room for all three of us in that apartment of his."

"Yeah, we were talking about that at Ichiraku's," Sam said. "I think the plan was that you go on missions with Naruto and Sakura while Tuck and I train, and we'll live somewhere in the Uchiha district until you manage to bring Sasuke back." Danny nodded.

"You'll have to talk to Tsunade about it and get her permission, but I think it's a good plan. I just don't like the idea of intruding…it _is_ Sasuke's family's house, after all…"

"Sasuke betrayed Konoha; I don't think we should lose too much sleep over what used to be his house," Tucker pointed out. Danny shrugged. Just then, the sliding door to the room opened, and in stepped Iruka.

"Iruka-_sensei_!" Danny exclaimed happily.

"Hey, Danny! I heard you were in the hospital, what happened?"

"eh, just a nasty _genjutsu_," Danny replied offhandedly. Tucker and Sam marveled at his ability to cover up his emotions so quickly. "These are my friends Sam and Tucker, from back home. Guys, this is Iruka-_sensei_; he taught Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura back when they were in the Ninja Academy. He was also the proctor for my exam to become a ninja." Iruka nodded.

"Tsunade told me that I was to help your friends become ninja while you go on missions, Danny. When are you supposed to be out of here?"

"This afternoon, hopefully. I'm glad that _hokage-sama_ assigned you; Sam and Tuck couldn't be in more capable hands." Iruka smiled as a small blush tinged his dark skin.

"I have a class to get to, so come by the academy building at around three to start your training," he said to Tucker and Sam.

"Okay, _sensei_," Sam replied. Iruka turned and left.

"Well, I'm glad that you guys are getting started so soon," Danny mused. "Who knows when Dan and Zabuza are going to arrive here…Lee? What are you doing?" Lee was still standing with his eyes shut tight and his hands clamped over his ears. Danny shot a needle-thin ectoblast from his index finger that hit Lee's bandaged forearm. The blast was too weak to do any real damage, but the singed bandage began to smoke faintly. Lee's nose twitched. He opened one eye slightly and squinted at his arm.

"The flames of youth have caused my bandages to ignite!" He shouted happily. "I must tell Gai-_sensei_!" He leaped out the window and took off down the road.

"That was…weird…" Tucker stated.

"What? Can't someone be an individual without being criticized?" Sam demanded, her eyes blazing.

"eep!" Tucker squeaked as he hid on the other side of Danny's bed.

"He's not that bad once you get to know him," Danny said with a shrug. "Anyway, could one of you get Sakura? I can go once she looks me over and declares me sane."

"I'll go," Sam offered, then left the room. "She'd better not look him over _too_ well," she muttered to herself as she went in search of Konoha's Cherry Blossom.

"Wait a sec, Sam!" Danny called from back inside his room.

"What is it?" She asked as she re-entered the hospital room.

"I almost forgot…" He muttered, then quickly called upon some of his _chakra_. "_Byakugan_!" he exclaimed. His artificially obtained bloodline limit active, he searched the hospital by looking through the walls at people's _chakra_ systems, almost like an x-ray. His eyes swept from left to right until he found Sakura's signature _chakra_ system. "She's one floor down, on that side of the building," he reported as he pointed to the left.

"Got it," Sam said as she turned around to leave. Danny watched her for a second, then deactivated his _byakugan_ and turned to Tucker.

"Hand me that tissue, would you?" He asked his friend as he pointed at a tissue box next to Tucker.

"Sure thing." Tucker passed him a tissue and Danny used it to stem his slight nosebleed.

"Why's your nose bleeding? Are we high above sea level?"

"Not sure," Danny said, shrugging. The nosebleed had subsided, so D-anny put the tissue away. "But getting back to before, you and Sam need to become ninja as quickly as possible. Even if you don't know very many _jutsu_, as long as you guys are in physical shape and can use weapons we have a chance. We don't know how long it'll be until Dan and Zabuza get here, so the sooner you've earned your _hitai-ate_, the better." Tucker groaned.

"Physical shape…my legs ache just thinking about it…" Danny laughed, and Tucker was slightly unnerved.

"Oh, you have no idea, Tuck. You have no idea…" Danny said with a smirk that made Tucker want to run home and hide under his bed.

* * *

Word Guide:

_yosh!_-All right!

_sensei_-teacher

_gomen nasai-_excuse me/I'm sorry

_tai-jutsu_- hand-to-hand combat. Rock Lee is only able to use this fighting style.

_hitai-ate_- forehead protector. You know, those headbands with a piece of metal on it that they all wear?

_genjutsu_-illusionary technique, like the _mangekyou sharingan_.

_byakugan_- literally 'white eyes'. The bloodline limit of the Hyuuga Clan. Read Kekkei Genkai if you want the details.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

After Sam came back with Sakura, the medic-nin in training gave Danny a quick check-up, then said that he was free to go. Danny got out of the board-like hospital bed and stretched his stiff limbs. He grabbed his _hitai-ate_, which was sitting on the night table next to his bed, and quickly tied it. 

"Okay," he began. "In addition to their lessons with Iruka-_sensei_, I think that Tuck should start by training with Gai and Lee so that he can get into shape. Sam's okay already, so she should start on _chakra_ control with either you or Hinata," he said.

"Lee? The insane guy in green spandex? He'll destroy me!" Tucker wailed. Nobody answered.

"Sounds like a plan," Sakura said. "The only problem is that I'm busy training with Tsunade, so Hinata would be the best candidate. Besides, if you really are going to take Sasuke's place on team 7, then you, Naruto, and I have to start training and going on missions together."

"Okay. So I guess our first order of business is to settle in and pick up food, clothes, and things, and then later we can find our new _sensei_s," Sam said.

"Did you figure out where you'll be staying?" Sakura asked.

"We have to talk to Tsunade, but we were thinking of taking over one of the houses in the Uchiha District since it's deserted," Tucker said.

"That won't work," Sakura said. "After the Uchiha Massacre, the Third _Hokage_ made a law stating that besides Sasuke, only ANBU are allowed into the district and even then it's only when they're on their patrols."

"Passed in order to keep out fan-girls, eh, Sakura?" Danny asked, his left eyebrow raised.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!" Sakura asserted, although the blush apparent on her face gave her away.

The four friends chatted amiably until Sakura's medical duties called her away. Danny, Sam, and Tucker decided to go see Tsunade about their sleeping arrangements. They left the hospital and walked a few blocks until they reached Hokage Tower. Tucker saw the ANBU guarding the entrance to the building and cowered behind Danny as the three of them entered.

"Those guys freak me out," he said. "And we fight ghosts!"

"They're ANBU. They're the elite, and are the most powerful _shinobi_ next to the _hokage_," Danny explained as they began climbing the many flights of stairs leading to the top floor of the building. "On my last day here before going back home, it was an ANBU who had summoned me to Sarutobi's office and Clockwork's portal." By the time they had reached the top, Tucker was gulping for air, though Danny and Sam were barely winded.

"By the way," he asked Sam, "what did you guys do with my weights?"

"Clockwork's portal opened up a few miles outside of Konoha, and we couldn't carry you all the way here with those weights on. We had to leave them by the wayside." Danny groaned.

"Dang, those were expensive…wait a minute, you two carried me all the way to Konoha?" Sam nodded. "Wow…thank you…"

"That's what friends do," Tucker said simply. The three of them approached Shizune's desk.

"Is Tsunade available?" Danny asked her.

"I'm sorry, she asked not to be disturbed for the next couple of hours," Shizune answered, knowing that her boss was probably drinking _sake_ as they spoke. She let it go, though, since the Slug _Sannin_ had made a lot of progress on her paperwork that morning.

"I see," Danny said. "In that case, could you tell her that the three visitors to Konoha will be back in two hours?" Shizune nodded and made a note of it. "Thank you," Danny said, then the three of them turned and left.

"So now what?" Sam asked.

"Now we find the people who are going to turn you two into ninja," Danny replied. He led them out of Hokage Tower and out of the main part of the village. As they were walking, they passed by the ramen stand and saw Naruto slurping a bowl of the delicious food. They noticed Hinata cowering at the edge of the stand near the adjacent alley. Danny shrugged this off and continued walking, while Tucker and Sam shot each other confused glances. After another few minutes, they reached what could only be described as a large school. The tan building was several stories high, and at least a city block long.

"The Ninja Academy," Danny said happily as he gestured to the building. "Iruka-_sensei _didn't exactly say where to meet him, though…"

"Danny! Over here!" They heard Iruka calling. Danny shrugged and followed the voice across the street, into a large building with an open entrance. Inside the building stood Iruka, who was supervising three young children as they threw _kunai_ at a large wooden stake. He waved them over.

"You were able to find us without too much trouble, good," he said, then gestured to the academy students he was watching. "These troublemakers are Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. Guys, these are Danny, Sam, and Tucker."

"But we didn't try to sneak out of class on purpose!" Konohamaru shouted. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"Whatever…anyway, why don't you meet up with your team, Danny? I've got everything covered here."

"Okay. I'll go meet up with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi-_sensei_, and meet with Tsunade after." Danny turned around and headed for the red bridge where Sakura had told him to meet up with the rest of team 7. Naruto was already there when he arrived, and Sakura got there not long after. The three of them sat around while waiting for their _sensei_ to show up.

"Is he always this late?" Danny asked after about an hour.

"I'm afraid so," Sakura said with a sigh. "He'll probably be here until after another hour."

"So why do you come on time?" The halfa asked. The other two shrugged. "Anyone up for ramen while we wait?" Naruto's ears twitched.

They were temporarily blinded by a hyperactive orange flash of light, and when it faded the three of them were enjoying a steaming-hot bowl of ramen. Or, in Naruto's case, eight steaming-hot bowls of ramen.

"I love this place," Danny said contentedly. Naruto simply belched in response. Not long after, the three of them paid for the ramen and went back to the bridge. Kakashi 'poofed' to the meeting place about five minutes after their arrival.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "There was this old lady struggling with her groceries, so I helped her carry them back to her house. Then her cat was stuck on the roof, so I had to get it back down. I came here right after that, I promise."

"Whatever…" Danny said, waving his hand dismissively. "So what are we going to do today, _sensei_?"

"Well Danny, I think that we should start out by assessing how well you guys cooperate as a team with your new team member. All of the teamwork the original Team 7 developed is pretty much useless now that Sasuke's gone, so we need to start from scratch. So," he pulled out a pair of small bells attached to strings. "It's time for a short test." Sakura and Naruto groaned while Danny looked on, confused. "Come on, let's go to our training field." The four of them called upon some _chakra_ and sped over to Team 7's old training field, complete with memorial stone and wooden stakes.

"Naruto and Sakura, you both know the rules already. Danny, in this exercise, your goal is to try and take these bells from me. I promise that you won't succeed unless you come at me with the full intent of killing me. And by the way," he smiled, although you could only tell because of the way his visible eye closed, "no ghost powers." Danny humphed. Kakashi pulled a small alarm clock out of a pouch in his _jounin_ vest and placed it on top of the center stake. He turned around to face them, and attached the bells to his waistline by the string attached to each of them.

"Begin!" He said. The three _genin_ took off into the woods to hide.

_Somewhere in the Ghost Zone…_

"How's it coming?" A blue-faced ghost wearing a white lab suit and cape with hair shaped like the devil's horns asked his two companions as he floated into the room through the window.

"What took you so long, Plasmius?" Growled another blue-skinned ghost, this one wearing black pants with white boots, and a black and white skin-tight shirt. His hair was snowy-white, and crackled as if aflame.

"I had to get here the long way; you know as well as I do that ghosts can't teleport while in the Ghost Zone," the first replied lazily.

"It's done," reported the third member of the trio, a green ghost whose mouth was covered by bandages and his spiky hair blocked somewhat by a crooked _kirigakure_ _hitai-ate_. His cowhide arm-bands and pinstriped pants were greasy from many hours spent underneath the large equipment in Clock Tower. He wiped his hands on his pants and crossed the room. He grabbed the mammoth sword leaning against the wall and strapped it securely on his back.

"Excellent," Dan and Vlad purred simultaneously. Dan immediately shot Vlad a disgusted glance, as though he was more than a little disturbed at the similarities between them. He ceased dwelling on it, however, once the large screen before them flickered to life. Zabuza typed in a series of coordinates and the screen shifted to a large cave in the middle of a forest.

"An old friend of mine lives here; we can lay low there for the time being," he said.

"I am _not_ living in a dank, disgusting cave," Vlad said. Zabuza waved his hand dismissively.

"It's bigger on the inside, don't worry. Now…" the three of them rose up into the air, and rushed through the portal. As soon as they reached the other side, they descended and their feet touched the ground in front of the cave. Zabuza entered slightly and knocked loudly on the cave wall. A tall man wearing a black cloak adorned with red clouds walked out of the depths of the cave, and Zabuza had the fleeting thought that he seemed to be a magnet for people with blue skin.

"Zabuza?" The man asked, surprised.

"It's good to see you again…Kisame."

* * *

Glossary:

_Sannin_: Literally, Three Ninja. Tsunade is one of the Legendary Three, who trained under the third hokage, Sarutobi. The other two are Jiraiya and Orochimaru. She is called the Slug Sannin because her summoning contract is with the slugs, so she can summon giant, acid-spitting slugs. I forget the name of the one she summons in the anime, though.

_Sake_-Japanese rice wine. If you've read the manga or seen far enough ahead in the anime, then you'll get this part. If not, don't worry about it.

**Announcement:** On January 31, I'm going away and I'll be gone for 2 months. I'll try to get another chapter out before then, finals be damned, but if you don't see anything new from me before the 31st, then the next update will be sometime in April. I plan on bringing a notebook with me, so I'll be able to write by hand and then re-type once I get back. On a side note for those of you who are following another fic of mine, _The Academy's Newest Duelist_, I've written most of the next chapter and will hopefully get it out before I leave.

_Ja ne!_


	7. Chapter 7

Well, would you look at that...I got it out before going away after all. Cool.**  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto! They are owned by Butch Hartman and Masashi Kishimoto, respectively!**

* * *

"So how are we gonna do this?" Danny muttered. 

"Well," Sakura began, "The point of this exercise is teamwork; he told us that the first time we did it. So we're going to have to work together to get the bells."

"But there are only two bells!" Danny protested. "That means one of us is getting disqualified, even if we do get them."

"That's the idea," Sakura replied. "He wants us to work together even if not everyone can make it to the end…he wants to see if we're willing to sacrifice our own individual chances for the good of the team."

"Eh…I hate this exercise," Naruto whined.

"Good memory, Sakura," a fourth voice said. The three members of the new Team 7 jumped as they heard their _sensei_ not five feet behind them in the underbrush.

"Yaaah!" Naruto shouted as they leaped out of the trees and into a clearing. "You scared us, Kakashi-_sensei_!" He yelled and pointed an accusatory finger. Danny and Sakura rolled their eyes.

"Let's do this!" Danny said, and ran full-tilt at the _jounin_. He brought his fist around but Kakashi simply ducked under it. Danny then jumped up into the air and attempted a _konoha senpuu_, only to have his ankle grabbed by the copy-nin. Kakashi easily tossed Danny into a tree. As soon as he made contact, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and the real Danny jumped out of the trees. A second later, Sakura vanished in another puff of smoke, revealing one of Naruto's shadow clones. Sakura and the real Naruto soon joined Danny in the clearing.

"Like it?" Naruto taunted. "_kage bunshin_ combined with a _henge_."

"I can see that," Kakashi answered calmly as Sakura withdrew a handful of _shuriken_ from her thigh holster. She launched the throwing stars, and Danny performed _shuriken kage bunshin no justsu_ to cause them to multiply into several dozen of the razor-sharp weapons. Kakashi withdrew a _kunai_ and deflected all of the _shuriken_. As the deflected weapons flew every which way, they vanished and became even more _kage bunshin_. The Naruto clones each threw a few _kunai_, all of which hit Kakashi dead on.

"Yeah, we did it, _tebayo_!" Naruto shouted happily as he dispelled the clones. His euphoria was short-lived, however, when Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a mutilated log.

"Argh, enough playing around!" Naruto yelled as Kakashi jumped down from a tree branch. "_Kage bunshin no jutsu_!" He made a single shadow clone, and the clone began forming a ball of pure _chakra_ in the original's right hand. The blue ball of energy grew to be somewhere between the size of a baseball and a basketball. The _chakra_ in it was swirling rapidly and contained a huge amount of raw power. Naruto dashed straight at Kakashi, the _chakra_ ball pointed at the _jounin_'s chest.

"_Rasengan_!" He shouted. Unfortunately, just before the ball made contact, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's wrist and threw him so that the _rasengan_ hit a nearby tree trunk. Danny watched, amazed, as the _rasengan_ drilled a hole straight through the thick trunk and knocked the tree over.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed. "What was that?" Naruto got up and turned to face him with a foxy grin.

"It's called _rasengan_," the orange-clad ninja boasted. That's the special technique that the Fourth _hokage_ invented, and the only people alive today who can do it are me and _ero-sennin_." Sakura bonked Naruto on the head.

"You shouldn't talk about Jiraiya like that," she chastised.

"Er…who?" Danny asked, a look of confusion plastered on his face.

"Jiraiya is one of the _Sannin_, the Legendary Three who trained under the Third," Sakura explained. "Tsunade is the second one."

"And the third?"

"_Hebi-teme_," Naruto growled. "The third _sannin_ is Orochimaru."

"Ah…"

"But the _sannin_ aren't all they're cracked up to be," Naruto said. "Tsunade's just an old granny who uses a _jutsu_ to look young and sits around and drinks _sake _all day. Orochimaru's a creepy pedophile who wants to steal the bodies of little boys so that he can live forever, and Jiraiya's a super-pervert who writes the _Icha-Icha _series."

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, shocked at her teammate's analysis of three of the most powerful ninja alive.

"It's true, though!" Naruto protested.

"Wait…so how old is Tsunade really?" Danny asked them.

"I dunno, around fifty or so…why?" Naruto asked as Danny began chuckling madly.

"Well," he said, "you know how she punched Tucker through, like, three walls right before you came in?"

"Yeah, I saw those holes…why?"

"Well," Danny chuckled, "she did that because Tuck thought she was twenty or something and tried to hit on her." Naruto immediately began laughing hysterically.

"That's freakin' hilarious!" He exclaimed.

"Not to interrupt," Kakashi interrupted, "but the test is still going on, you know."

"Uh, no it's not," Danny replied. The other three looked at him, surprised.

"What are you talking about, Danny?" Sakura asked slowly, as though she was speaking to a two-year old. "We still don't have the bells."

"Yeah we do," Danny replied as he held the two bells up by their strings. Kakashi's visible eye widened, and he reached for his waist, but the bells weren't there.

"Wha…how?" He asked.

Flashback 

_Kakashi deflected all of the _shuriken_ and all of them poofed into Naruto's _kage bunshin. _While the clones all drew _kunai_ to throw them at Kakashi, Danny used _kawarimi no jutsu_ to replace himself with a clone that was directly behind Kakashi and used _henge no jutsu_ to make him look like another clone. Danny grabbed the bells while the shadow clones were throwing their _kunai_, and Kakashi switched places with a log not a second later. While Kakashi was in the treetops, Danny did a second _kawarimi_ to switch back with the clone and _henge_'d back, and Naruto dispelled it immediately afterward._

_End Flashback_

"Oh…well, I guess you all pass, then," Kakashi said, still a bit surprised at Danny's ingenuity. "I didn't really have anything else planned for the rest of the day, so you can take the rest of the day off, I guess. I'll get us some missions for tomorrow, so meet at the bridge right at 7, okay?"

"_Hai, sensei_," the three chorused, then left the training area. It wasn't long before they had reached the main part of _Konoha_, and they found themselves walking down cobblestone streets on the way to the ninja academy to check up on Tucker and Sam.

"We wiped the floor with that test, _tebayo_!" Naruto shouted as they made their way over to the academy building.

"Well, we did get a lot of practice working as a team when we fought against Zabuza," Danny noted as he absently tossed the bells up and caught them with his right hand. "It's not like we've never had to fight as a team before." They entered the academy's _dojo_ and found Sam throwing _kunai_ at a wooden stake and Tucker meditating, PDA in hand.

"Hey guys!" Danny called.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed. She rushed over to him and gave him a quick hug, then retreated, a blush barely apparent on her cheeks. Tucker stood up and went over to where everyone was standing.

"Guess what? We learned how to draw _chakra_, and I learned that I can channel my _chakra_ through my PDA and make it do all kinds of crazy stuff!"

"Somehow…that doesn't surprise me," Danny said.

"Both of them are doing really well," Iruka said as he came over from his position next to the stake. "They both figured out how to channel _chakra_ faster than most academy students, and they made pretty good progress on the history of ninja warfare and of Konohagakure itself."

"That's great, Iruka-_sensei_," Danny said. Iruka nodded.

"Yeah, they'll make fine ninjas indeed. Well, you've caught me in a good mood today, so who wants ramen, my treat?" Naruto's hand immediately shot into the air, making everyone present chuckle.

"I'd love to, but I have to get to the hospital," Sakura said. "Tsunade said that if I finish all of my work early, she'll give me the next level of healing-_nin-jutsu_ scroll."

"And I have to speak with Tsunade about some stuff…hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to after our missions," Danny added. Iruka shrugged.

"All right. Naruto, I guess it's just you and me, then."

"Yeah, gonna get some ramen, _tebayo_!" Naruto shouted, and followed Iruka out of the _dojo_. Sakura left not long after to get to the hospital.

"So what do we do now?" Tucker asked.

"I have to meet with Tsunade to try and get her to let us stay at the Uchiha complex," Danny replied. "And we have to find you two the people you're going to train with."

"Are you sure about this, Danny?" Sam asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're just leaving us to train while you take care of everything. We're your friends, Danny; we want to be a part of your life, not just some nuisance that you need to take care of." Danny chuckled.

"I know, I know…you guys have saved my sorry butt more times than I can count, I know. But this time it's serious…you guys need to get stronger. Zabuza was really powerful even by ninja standards, and now that he has ghost powers he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Dan's got _mangekyou sharingan_, and there's no telling what kinds of ninja abilities he'll learn before we face them again. And once they get to this realm, who's to say that they won't ally themselves with Orochimaru, or someone even more powerful? I understand that you might feel left out, but I can promise you that we all need to train as hard as we can if we want to make it through this alive. You need to trust me and believe that it's all in your best interests."

"Don't worry, man," Tucker said. "We trust you. Now, let's go find these guys!"

"Right." Danny led them out of the academy and through the main part of Konoha. They were walking by Ichiraku Ramen, where Iruka and Naruto were busy slurping bowls of the stuff. Danny's glanced over at a lamppost across the street from the ramen stand.

"Hinata, can we ask a favor of you?" Hinata, who was hiding behind the lamppost and admiring Naruto, had the facial expression of a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar when she came out from her hiding place.

"W-what is it, D-danny?" She asked.

"Can you help Sam practice _chakra_ control? She and Tucker learned how to channel _chakra_ today, and I think she could learn a lot of different _jutsu_ if she's able to mold it more precisely. Also, I think you could learn a little from her as well."

"W-what d-do you mean?" the heiress asked.

"For one thing, you'll be a lot less shy after spending a lot of time with me," Sam said.

"R-really?" Hinata asked, ecstatic at the chance to finally overcome her paralyzing self-confidence issues. "Okay, I'll d-do it!" She said, and nodded her head assertively. She ran up and grabbed Sam by the hand.

"L-let's go s-somewhere quieter," she said, and led the Goth girl away from Danny and Tucker.

"Good idea to put them together," Tucker noted. Danny nodded.

"Thanks! Now, we need to get you into shape, and I know just the person to help with that. C'mon, let's go to the training fields." Before Tucker could protest, Danny had overshadowed him and caused him to begin running towards said fields.

Once they got to the training fields, Danny had Tucker hide behind a tree and flew out of him. Ignoring the chocolate-skinned boy's death glare, Danny headed over to where two people were watching two more spar. One, Danny was sure was a girl because of her pink, Chinese-style shirt and her brown hair tied in two short buns. The other was kind of a tough call, due to the fact that his brown hair was glossy and waist-length. The person was wearing a cream-colored jacket and brown shorts.

"We have met before," the second person, whom Danny could now tell was a boy based on his masculine voice, said without turning around. When he finally did turn around, Danny recognized him as the Hyuuga on Lee's team by the _byakugan_ veins pulsing around his eyes. He clapped a hand over Tucker's mouth to keep him from making a comment about Neji's eyes, and addressed the Hyuuga prodigy himself.

"Yeah, I remember…" but before he could go on, he was interrupted by a set of twin green blurs.

"Danny and Tucker! My youthful friends! How good of you to come to see me train with Gai-sensei!"

"Yes! You two must be the friends of my adorable pupil Lee!" Shouted the bigger version of Lee, who would have been identical save for his _chuunin_ vest and more prominent nose. Tucker recognized him as the template for Lee's wallet.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"A-_hem_," Danny coughed, and the two stopped immediately. "I was just wondering if you'd be able to train my friend Tucker in _tai-jutsu_. He's learning to be a ninja and could really use the help getting in shape."

"_Yosh_!" Gai shouted. "It would be an honor to help out a friend of Lee's friend! We can start immediately!"

"Great, thanks so much! Also, Lee, d'you wanna do a workout with me tomorrow morning at around, say, 4:30? I've got missions later in the day, and I'm sure you either have the same or have training, but we'd have time for a quick spar, at least."

"I would love to! I will meet you here at exactly 4:30!" Lee exclaimed excitedly with a pose and a flash of his pearly whites.

"Great, I'm really looking forward to it…one last thing," Danny said, the corners of his mouth twitching mischievously. "Tucker doesn't exactly have clothes that can stand up to a good _tai-jutsu_ workout…do you have anything that he could borrow?"

"Of course!" Gai shouted, and gave a pose of his own. "We shall fit him with a jumpsuit of YOUTH!" With that, the two of them grabbed Tucker and vanished in a blur of green. Neji and Tenten turned to face him.

"Now you've done it…they'll be at it for hours," Tenten said.

"Sorry…" Danny apologized as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "But the kid really needs to get in shape, and they're the best men for the job."

"Would you like to spar with me in the meantime?" Neji suddenly asked. The prodigy felt something…off…with this newcomer ever since he'd seen Danny's _chakra_ with the _byakugan_. He wondered why Danny had green _chakra_, and he wanted answers. Fortunately for Danny, his watch began beeping. The halfa checked the time, and mentally sighed with relief.

"I'd love to, but I have to meet with the _hokage_ in a few minutes…gotta go!" He turned and took off in the direction of _hokage_ tower.

"Is something wrong, Neji?" Tenten asked her brooding partner.

"That is the second time he's backed down from a fight with me…he is hiding something, and I intend to find out what."

"Can't we at least train for a bit first?" Tenten asked, giving Neji a small pout. Neji smirked, giving Tenten the closest thing Neji Hyuuga's facial muscles could produce to a smile.

"Of course." He adopted an advanced _jyuuken_ stance as Tenten whipped out a pair of summoning scrolls.

Meanwhile… 

"So, who are you, exactly?" Dan asked the newest blue-faced member of their group.

"His name is Kisame Hoshigaki, and he's one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, just like me," Zabuza said. "I didn't know you joined _Akatsuki_, though, Kisame," he added to his colleague.

"You wouldn't…I joined several years after you left _kiri_," the shark-man said.

"What exactly is this _Akatsuki_?" Vlad, still in his ghost form, asked the cloaked man.

"I'm not at liberty to say. But I can sense your _chakra_, and both of you seem powerful. We will speak to the Leader and see if we can arrange something between us and yourselves." He suddenly stopped and performed a long chain of hand seals. When he finished, the stretch of cave wall in front of him disappeared, revealing an entryway into a cozy living room.

"What did you drag in this time, Kisame, un?" Asked a young man with blond hair and a single visible blue-green eye. He was wearing the standard _Akatsuki_ cloak, and sported a slashed _Iwagakure hitai-ate_. He was currently seated on a comfy-looking couch and watching TV.

"New members, if Sir Leader-Sama allows it," Kisame replied. "You're back from your mission early, Deidara."

"Yeah, apparently hunter-nins from _kumo_ are weaker than we'd anticipated, un," Deidara replied. "_Sasori-no-danna_ and I took care of them easily, un." Kisame nodded and continued through a door in the back of the living room. He led the three guests through a hallway with multiple doors on either side, and knocked three times on a large door on the end of the hallway.

"Enter," said a deep voice that caused Kisame to visibly shudder. The shark-man opened the door and led the three ghosts into a room filled with a deep shadow that blocked out any view of the interior. All they could see was the cold stone walls and ceiling. Not even the ghosts' spectral auras were strong enough to penetrate the darkness. The only thing that any of them could see coming out of the mysterious black cloud was a pair of red eyes radiating intense killer intent.

"What is the meaning of this, Kisame?" Asked the same deep voice from before, and also the apparent owner of the red eyes.

"Sir Leader-Sama, I was standing guard outside the cave when I found the spirit of my old colleague, Zabuza. He brought a couple of friends with him, and I think they'd make good _Akatsuki_ members."

"Kisame, you know that after Orochimaru left, we only have room for one more member," said a second voice. A second pair of red eyes opened up to the left of the Leader.

"I realize this, but they are very powerful, so perhaps we could make some sort of exception…"

"It wouldn't work," said Leader's Assistant. "There are nine _bijuu_, therefore there must be nine _Akatsuki_. There are no other options."

"Very well then," Dan said brightly. Green ectoplasmic energy burst to life in his right hand, and without flinching he shot a powerful ectoblast straight at Vlad. The billionaire was too shocked by his ally's treachery to dodge, and took the blast dead-on. The power behind the blast caused him to sink to one knee and revert to human form.

"What is this?" He spat at the flame-haired ghost.

"It's time for you to get out of the picture, cheesehead," Dan sneered. "Zabuza, if you would be so kind?" The green ghost hefted his head-cleaver and pointed it straight at Vlad's neck. A line of green energy shot out of Dan's foot and wrapped around Vlad, holding him in place as Zabuza raised the sword up and prepared for a killing blow. As he looked death in the face, Vlad's look of shock was replaced by one of odd serenity.

"In my last breath, I proclaim my love to Maddie," he said calmly. Zabuza brought the blade down.

* * *

Glossary: 

_kage bunshin no jutsu-_Shadow Clone Technique.

_henge no jutsu-_Transformation Technique.

_shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu-_Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.

_rasengan-_Spiralling Sphere. Search for it under Google Images if you want a good picture of it.

_ero-sennin-_Perverted Hermit. That's Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya in the anime in Japanese; I'm not sure how the dubbed English versions translate it.

_hebi-teme-_Snake-bastard.

_hai-_yes.

_tebayo-_Believe it! Many people have it as _dattebayo_, but since the subtitles in the anime all say _tebayo_, that's the one I'm going by.

_dojo-_I already went into what a _dojo _is in _Kekkei Genkai_. Here, the _dojo_ is this big open room where academy students are able to practice with their weapons.

_Akatsuki-_I don't want to give away too much information just now, so suffice it to say that it's an organization made up of S-ranked criminals. Orochimaru was a member until he ran away like the scared little girly-man he is. These guys are no pushovers; any one of them could easily defeat a high-ranked _jounin _like Kakashi, and one even beat a _sannin_, though I won't give any details.

_Kiri-_Mist. Here it means the Village Hidden in the Mist. This village is located in Water Country and its leader is called the _Mizukage_.

_Kumo-_Cloud. Here it means the Village Hidden in Clouds.This village is located in Lightning Country and its leader is called the _Raikage_.

_Iwagakure no Sato-_Village Hidden in Stone. This village is located in Earth Country and its leader is called the _Tseuchikage_.

_Sasori-no-Danna_-Sasori is another member of _Akatsuki_. Deidara always calls him _Sasori-no-danna_, but I have no idea what the '_no-danna_' part means.

_Bijuu-_Tailed Beasts. For example, the demon sealed inside Gaara is the _Ichibi no Shukaku_, the one-tailed _tanuki_. The demon sealed inside Naruto is the _Kyuubi no Yoko_, the nine-tailed _Kitsune_.


	8. Chapter 8

See? I told you I'd write while I was away! I had a really great time, but I'm still glad to be back. I don't have anything else written at the moment, but I do have a couple of very funny ideas for the next few chapters.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

When Danny entered the hokage's office, he was barely able to see Tsunade due to the multiple stacks of paperwork that were piled up on her desk.

"Er…Tsunade?" the halfa asked nervously.

"Oh, thank God!" the expert medic-nin exclaimed as she shoved the papers off the desk. "I've been looking for an excuse to get away from this paperwork for hours! What can I do for you?"

"O-kee…" Danny muttered, slightly weirded out by the woman's antics. He shoved the thought aside, though, and cleared his throat. "I'd like permission to rent a house in the Uchiha Complex for Sam, Tucker, and I." Tsunade looked at him questioningly.

"Why on earth would you want to stay there, of all places? Couldn't you just rent a couple of hotel rooms?"

"We thought of that, but we figured that it would be expensive. We don't know how long we'll be here, after all." Tsunade put her elbows on her desk and meshed her fingers together. She stared intently at Danny from behind her fingers, and the teen began to fidget from all the attention. This continued for about a minute until…

"No."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. I can't let you take up residence in the Uchiha District. Not only is it not mine to rent out, but the village council would have my head if I did let you stay there." She looked through a small book that was sitting on her desk, then snapped it shut. She then pressed the intercom on her desk to call Shizune.

"Shizune! Send in agent INU!" She barked into the small box. A second later, there was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, a dog-masked ANBU was standing in the circular room. The ANBU saluted smartly.

"Thank you, Hana," said Tsunade. "I have a favor to ask, though it is a bit unconditional."

"It is my duty and pleasure to do anything you ask of me, _hokage_-_sama_," the ANBU, who was identifiable as a girl based on her voice, replied. Tsunade nodded.

"Very well. Are there spare rooms at your clan's complex?"

"Er…yes, we have plenty of space. What is it you need the space for, Tsunade?"

"I would like you to house three visitors," Tsunade replied. "We're not sure how long they'll be here, but I'm sure you won't have a problem accommodating them. That is all."

"_Ossu_!" the ANBU shouted, then vanished in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a slip of paper was suspended in mid-air. The slip slowly sank to the ground, and Tsunade caught it.

"Directions to the Inuzuka complex," she reported, and handed the paper to Danny. "I'm sure you'll find the accommodations satisfactory. Now, is there anything else you would like to speak with me about?"

"Actually, yeah," Danny said, "Could I be the third member of team 7 until we bring Sasuke back?"

"Hm…" Tsunade mused. "I'm not sure…you have virtually no experience as a ninja. I found your file while you were in the hospital. You have had zero missions, despite your notable abilities. However, abilities alone don't equal field experience. And I don't want to start giving Naruto and Sakura D-ranked missions…I'll tell you what. I already had a replacement set up, but if you can beat him in a spar then I'll let you take his place as the final member of team 7. That is, until Sasuke is retrieved, which I have no doubt will be soon. What are your plans for after that?"

"I plan on forming a three-man squad with Sam and Tucker, who are training to be ninjas," Danny said immediately. "After that, we need to train hard to defeat the enemies that no doubt followed me here from Amity Park."

"Enemies?" Tsunade asked worriedly. "What kinds of enemies? Are they a threat to Konoha?"

"Probably," the halfa answered. "If they found out that you were helping me, then I wouldn't put it past them to target you in order to get to me. But even they aren't strong enough to take on an entire Hidden Village…we shouldn't have too much of a problem if they come knocking."

"How strong are they?"

"One is an alternate version of myself. He his ten years older than me and many times as powerful. In addition to this, he possesses the _sharingan_ instead of the _byakugan_." Tsunade shivered.

"This being seems very powerful; I don't want him anywhere near my village. Is this clear?" Danny nodded vigorously. "Very well. What of the others?"

"There are two others. One is another half-ghost, but I have defeated him before now. The other is Zabuza Momouchi, the missing-nin from _kirigakure_."

"This is the ghost that Team 7 had originally defeated with you, back at your home?"

"Correct."

"Great…I'll start making preparations for this threat. In the meantime, go to the academy _dojo_ for your spar."

"Okay. Thank you!" Tsunade simply grunted in response, and Danny turned and left her office.

As he made his way from hokage tower, he passed a team consisting of two _genin_ and a _chuunin_. One of the _genin_, a girl with white-blonde hair, was yelling at the indifferent _chuunin_. The second _genin_ munched on a bag of chips, seemingly oblivious to the argument. Danny vaguely wondered how a boy as fat as him could possibly succeed as a ninja. He continued on his way, and after a few minutes he reached the academy _dojo_. Two people were standing in the arena. Towards the end stood an old, wrinkled man who leaned heavily on a staff. In the center of the ring stood a boy who looked to be a couple of years younger than Danny, about the same age as Naruto. He was dressed all in black, had short black hair and an emotionless face. The only way Danny could describe him would be generic; he looked as though he could easily become lost in a crowd. Which, of course, was an excellent trait for a ninja to possess. Just after Danny arrived, Tsunade and Shizune teleported into the room in a swirl of leaves.

"Danzo?" Shizune asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Observing my student, of course," the old man replied. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no," Shizune said hurriedly. "It's just that we weren't expecting a council member to be present, that's all."

"Can we start this already?" Tsunade asked rudely. Danny and the generic boy both nodded. "Okay, then. Let the match between Danny and Sai begin!" The two boys each took fighting stances and stared each other down.

"Well, good luck…dickless." Sai said.

"Thanks…wait, what?" Taken by surprise by the insult, Danny faltered. Sai used the opportunity to launch a barrage of _shuriken_. While Danny whipped out a _kunai_ to deflect them, Sai whipped out a small notepad and a thin paintbrush.

"Huh? What are you going to do with that?" Danny asked.

"A good ninja never reveals his techniques…_baka_," Sai muttered. He quickly scribbled a sketch of a tiger. He put the pad on the ground and began to focus his _chakra_. A moment later, the pad began to shudder violently. A tiger made entirely out of ink rose up out of the pad and roared menacingly.

"Oh," Danny muttered weakly. "He threw a brace of _kunai _at the ink tiger, but the beast simply absorbed the knives. Five ink-drenched _kunai_ clattered to the stone floor of the _dojo_, but before they'd hit the ground Danny was on the move, darting this way and that to avoid the charging beast. Danny's mad dash had him facing Sai just in time to see a second ink-tiger rise out of the ground, soon followed by a small flock of ink-birds. The halfa cursed under his breath as the two tigers began stalking him and padding in slowly shrinking circles around him. His eyes flashed green as the tigers pounced, and he flashed intangible just long enough for the beasts to crash into each other and dissolve into a large puddle of ink.

"But…how?" Sai wondered aloud. One of the ink-birds squawked, and the painter-nin nodded in understanding. "Very well, then." Danny activated his _byakugan_ as Sai was sketching yet more beasts, and watched as the boy's _chakra_ coils surged then died down as three bears made of ink rose up off the pad. As he observed this, all of the birds began squawking excitedly. Sai looked up at Danny and immediately noticed the large veins surrounding the halfa's eyes.

"So you possess _byakugan_ as well? Interesting…but your lack of penis offsets your abilities as a ninja!"

"Quit it!" Danny shouted, frustrated at the attacks on his manhood. He was so worked up, he didn't notice one of the ink-bears sneak up behind him and slash him on the back. Danny yelled out as he stumbled forward, a mix of blood and ink dripping to the floor. Before he had a chance to recover, the ink-birds struck, screaming and pecking at him mercilessly. Suddenly, they stopped. Danny was mystified by this until he felt the cold steel of a _kunai_ pressed against his throat.

"Give up. You've lost," said Sai, his voice devoid of any emotion. Danny looked around and saw that he was surrounded by a small army of bears, tigers, and birds. He could see that sai was very skilled with his brand of _ninjutsu_, and also possessed the stealth and speed necessary to sneak up on him so quickly. Danny could tell that his adversary was a powerful ninja indeed.

"I-" he began. Everyone present held their breath, waiting for Danny's admission of defeat. "I won't stop until I've destroyed all of your drawings and reduced your notepad to ash," Danny declared, then phased down into the ground as Sai slashed with the kunai. He popped up behind Sai, and in front of a pair of ink-tigers.

"I'm going ghost!" He shouted, and a ring of light formed around his waist. The tigers struck just as the ring split in two, and were thrown back and destroyed by the aural blast. Once Danny's transformation was complete, he used byakugan to pinpoint the exact location of each ink-creature and cleanly destroyed each one in a ghostly dance of green spectral energy. Once the ink-beasts were all gone, the hybrid moved in on the artist himself. Sai tried to get out of the way, but was not fast enough due to the large amount of chakra he expended to summon the beasts. Danny hit him with a _jyuuken_ strike to the chest.

"Who has no penis now?" Danny taunted as Sai sank to his knees…only to dissolve into ink.

"An ink clone?" Danny exclaimed, startled at the turn of events. Suddenly, the gallons upon gallons of ink left over from the ink-creatures began to flow towards the center of the ring.

"No…he's using that technique," Danzo said worriedly.

"Is it dangerous?" Tsunade asked sharply.

"Not at first, no," the coucilman replied. "However, the move trains most of Sai's _chakra_ when he performs it. Also, there's a nasty side effect…in exchange for it's creation, it feeds on Sai's emotions."

"It?" Shizune asked, confused. As she did so, the ink began to rise up off the ground and became a grotesque, humanoid golem. Sai's head stuck out of he golem's chest, and his body was presumably encased within the ink creature. He stared at Danny with pupilless eyes, and his mouth moved in tandem with the mouth of the creature.

"**Fell the unstoppable wrath of the ink-juggernaut!**" Sai and the creature roared. They drew back their inky fist and let fly. Danny tried to go intangible but the creature's fist hit him anyway, and he went flying. He regained tangibility and hit the wall of the _dojo_ hard, making a large cracking noise.

"Oh, my heard…" he moaned as he brought a hand up to rub the throbbing appendage. "What gives?"

"I see," Tsunade said.

"What is it?" Shizune asked.

"I read Danny's file before our meeting. His biometrics are by far the strangest I've ever seen, stranger than even Naruto's. You see, Naruto has two distinct types of _chakra_ because of his tenant." Shizune nodded in understanding. "Danny, however, has no inner demon. His molecular structure is actually half ghost."

"Half ghost? Is that even possible?"

"Apparently. Danny produces a unique type of _chakra_, neither human nor demonic. His is a mixture of the two. His ghostly abilities are really powered by _chakra_, and his _chakra_ coils respond in both his human and ghost forms."

"So how did he dodge Sai's ink-tigers, but couldn't escape the ink-juggernaut's fist?" Danzo asked.

"Simple," Tsunade replied. "The ink-tigers weren't made with much _chakra_, so the ghostly ability fueled by Danny's _chakra_ was able to overpower it. However, the ink-juggernaut contains far more _chakra_, so the ability produced using Danny's _chakra_ was insufficient to block it."

Danny rose up on shaking legs, and took to the air as the ink-juggernaut closed in on him. As a result of Danny's dodge, the beast's punch missed, and his whole arm destabilized into ink when the fist made contact with the stone wall of the dojo. The ink-juggernaut roared in agony as it began to reconstruct its arm. Danny floated above the center of the ring, and the creature lumbered after him. Once it reached the center, Danny began blasting away at the ink-juggernaut with a barrage of high-powered ectoblasts. Although it brought his own _chakra_ levels dangerously low, the move succeeded and ink began to rapidly fall off the juggernaut. When most of Sai's body was exposed, Danny landed on the g round and a pair of green circles appeared around him.

"You're inside my trigrams," he announced to a shocked Sai. "_Hakke_: _Rokujuuyon Sho_!"

"_Ni sho_!"

"_Yon sho_!"

"_Hachi sho_!"

"_Juuroku sho_!"

"_Sanjuuni sho_!"

"_Rokujuuyon sho!"_ Danny was panting heavily by the time he closed all of Sai's _tenketsu_. The painter-nin sank to his knees coughed up a fair bit of blood, and fainted. However,r the strain of performing the advanced jyuuken technique on top of his already diminished chakra reserves began to take its toll on the halfa. His vision began to blur, and he tottered on his feet. He barely heard the surprised "Danny wins," from Tsunade before he passed out.

Elsewhere…

"Let me get this straight," said Dan, "if I join you, you'll agree to try and capture Fenton as well as Uzumaki?"

"That is correct," the Leader replied. "We will give you our services if you give us yours." Dan pondered this. He realized that he didn't know very much about the world in which he'd suddenly found himself. Zabuza would stand by him, of course, but these people seemed to have more firepower. Much more. Dan liked having a lot of firepower; it made the pretty explosions so much more satisfyingly destructive. He would enlist with these people…at least until their usefulness to him ended, of course.

"Very well…we have a deal. But I absolutely refuse to wear nail polish," said the Phantom.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

Danny returned to the land of the living very slowly. First, before even opening his eyes, he felt an odd sensation all over his face, as though he was being rubbed very lightly with sandpaper. Next, he breathed in through his nose and got a whiff of dirt and animals. Finally, he cracked his eyes open. The first thing he saw was multiple pink pieces of flesh covering his entire field of vision.

_Wha…,_ he thought, then tried to lift his head a bit to get a better view of his surroundings. He realized that the pink pieces of flesh were actually the tongues of about twenty puppies, all of which were licking his face affectionately.

"Puppies!" Danny shouted happily, then sat up to allow all of the cute animals to jump into his outstretched arms. As he did so, he was immediately hit by a wave of dizziness and sank back down into what he realized was a bed.

"Whoa there, kiddo, you shouldn't move around for another few hours or so, doctor's orders," said a tall, high-cheekboned woman sporting twin triangular markings on her cheeks and spiky black hair that was leaning on the doorframe to the room Danny was laying in.

"But I-"

"No buts," the woman growled, as did a large black and white dog that stood next to the woman. The dog looked very menacing, almost lupine, its appearance accentuated by the eyepatch covering its left eye. "I'm Tsume Inuzuka, and when you're in my house, you do what I say, no questions asked. Understand?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Danny replied nervously. Noting the tone in his voice, Tsume burst out laughing.

"_HA_, you should've seen the look on your face!" She barked. "Don't worry, I'm not really that bad; I don't bite. Kuromaru, on the other hand…" said nin-dog barked in acknowledgement. Danny relaxed slightly, finding it hard to remain bitter at being the butt of a joke while being assaulted by a small army of adorable puppies. Just then, they heard a door open and slam shut.

"Mom, I'm home from training!" a voice called. Immediately, all of the puppies that had been snuggling with Danny jumped up, yipped excitedly, and ran towards the source of the voice.

"Oi, Kiba, get up here and meet your new houseguest!" Tsume shouted.

"Okay, I'll be up in a minute…"

"Now!"

"Fine…" Kiba appeared a few seconds later, the puppies scrambling around his ankles. His eyes widened and he pointed at Danny.

"It's you!" he exclaimed.

"Uh…have we met before?" Danny asked, thinking that he'd never seen this kid before in his life.

"You're the one that had to go to the hospital in Konoha! Your friends met up with us just outside the village gates!"

"Wait…you met Sam and Tucker?"

"Duh! They were carrying you, said that you'd been hurt or something. They told us that they'd been instructed to bring you to the village, and wanted to know which way was the right direction. Shino and I didn't trust them at first, but then Hinata said she recognized you. Then Akamaru told me that your _hitai-ate_ had Iruka-_sensei_'s scent on it, so you had to have been from the village."

"You know Hinata?" Kiba stared at him incredulously.

"Wow, you're almost as thick as Naruto…Hinata, Shino, and I are on Team 10 of the Rookie Nine. We've been teammates for months now. She told us about your eyes."

"His eyes?" Tsume questioned. "What about them?"

"It's…well, it's kind of a secret…" Kiba said reluctantly, then Akamaru barked. Kiba picked him up out of his jacket and held the puppy at eye level.

"Yeah, I know we should tell them, boy, but Hinata made us promise not to tell _anyone_." Akamaru whined and bit Kiba's hand lightly.

"All right, all right…somehow, this guy got himself a pair of Hyuuga eyes."

"What?" Tsume exclaimed. "Let me see," she demanded. She stalked over to Danny's bedside and started intently at his eyes.

"They're blue, not indigo," she stated.

"But he has their bloodline anyway," Kiba pressed. "But you can't tell anyone. Not even Hinata's dad knows about this, and there'd be uproar if he did. This is a _huge_ secret." Tsume bopped him on the head.

"I know it's a secret, _baka_, you don't have to act like I'm three years old. Anyway, your friends should be finishing up their own training soon. Hopefully they'll be here within an hour."

"Yeah, Hinata and Kurenai-_sensei_ trained with Sam today, and they were wrapping up when Shino and I left the training grounds. I have to say, you've got yourself one hell of a girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Danny exclaimed.

"Whatever…anyway, they should be getting here soon." Almost the second the words left his mouth, there was a knock at the door. All of the puppies ran down a second time, with Kiba in their wake.

"I'll get it!" He shouted as he made his way to the front door and opened it. "You've gotta be kidding me," he deadpanned. In the doorway stood Sam. Supporting Tucker. A fainted Tucker. A fainted Tucker wearing _green spandex_.

"That idiot Gai struck again!" the youngest Inuzuka wailed. Tsume, who hadn't seen the new arrivals yet because she was still standing in Danny's room, sighed and went over to the source of her son's piteous display.

"Uh…is he okay?" Sam asked Tsume nervously.

"Yeah…I think I may have dropped him one too many times when he was still a _koinu_, though," the woman replied thoughtfully. Sam chuckled, just as Tucker's face began to twitch. He mumbled something, but he spoke so softly that none of them were able to hear him.

"What did he say?" Tsume asked. Tucker whispered into Sam's ear. Sam shot him a disgusted look, then sighed and turned to Tsume.

"He says he smells meat," she reported. Tsume let out a barking laugh.

"He must have a distant relative from this clan," she joked, "if he can smell dinner so soon."

"Yeah…but seriously, though, we _are_ having some vegetables, right?"

"Nah…the dogs don't like veggies, and my kids stopped eating theirs so long ago that I don't bother cooking them anymore. Why?" Upon hearing this, Tucker began chuckling quietly, but before long he burst out into laughter.

"What's up with him?"

"He must've gotten one too many concussions during training today with spandex-man and his mini-clone…but if he has the strength to laugh, he has the strength to walk," Sam said, then dropped the dark-skinned boy on the floor.

"Ow, just because you're bitter because you actually have to eat meat, doesn't mean you should take it out on me!" he complained.

"Kiba!" Tsume barked. Kiba, who was still dazed because of Tucker's 'crossing over to the dark side' looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Show these two where they'll be staying-Tucker rooms with you, and Sam is with Hana."

"How come Danny gets his own room?" Kiba protested.

"Because he's exhausted from his fight, and doesn't need people constantly going in and out of his room. Now move!"

"Fine, fine…follow me, guys." Kiba sullenly led the way, and the three _genin_ made their way upstairs.

"Hana's on a mission or something, so you've got the room to yourself for now," he told Sam, and showed her his sister's room. He then went further down the hallway and opened another door, then led Tucker inside.

"Welcome to my crib," he said proudly. The room was a total mess, with clothes and weapons thrown haphazardly everywhere.

"Cool!" said the techno-geek.

"So," Kiba began as he sat on the bed, "you can't only be doing _tai-jutsu_ training with those psychos. What else have you been learning?"

"Sam and I started taking lessons with Iruka-_sensei_. We've been learning about _shinobi_ life in general, and practicing with _chakra_ control and with weapons. I'm pretty bad with the weapons so far, though…"

"But you're okay at _chakra_ control?"

"Well, I only started this morning, but Iruka-_sensei_ said I made a lot of progress. I learned how to focus my _chakra_ through my PDA."

"Your what?"

"You've never heard of a PDA?" Tucker asked incredulously, before the knowledge of his new setting returned to him. "Oh yeah…low-tech zone. Back where we come from, a PDA is like a handheld computer. You have those, right?"

"Some people do…they don't do very much, so the only ones around are in the _hokage_'s administration building."

"Well, our computers do a whole lot more than just office stuff. I started out with very few functions, but I unlocked my music player by molding my _chakra_ correctly. Watch this!" He whipped his PDA out from somewhere within the green spandex and used the stylus to navigate to his music library. He selected _Thriller_, by Michael Jackson, and cranked up the volume. Kiba looked as though he'd won a lifetime supply of dog biscuits-shocked, then surprised, then elated.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed.

Neither of the two boys noticed a pair of red eyes sporting three _tomoe_ each watching them, their owner crouched in a tree outside.

_The following night, Otogakure no Sato_

"Well, Ssssasuke, what did you find out?" A pale, snakelike man drawled as he stood inches behind the Last of the Uchiha. His tongue, several feet longer than that of an average human, creeped along his apprentice's chin.

"The village has accepted three newcomers," Sasuke reported. "One of them uses his _chakra_ in conjunction with a technological device that he carries with him."

"Oh? And what does he do with this device? I'm certain your _sssharingan_ picked it up."

"It did, as a matter of fact," the boy said coolly. He activated his bloodline limit, and the three _tomoe_ in his crimson irises began spinning, much like the wheels of a cassette tape. All of a sudden, the dark, dank lair was filled with music.

"It's close to midnight  
And something evil's lurkin' in the dark  
Under the moonlight  
You see a sight that almost stops your heart  
You try to scream  
But terror takes the sound before you make it  
You start to freeze  
As horror looks you right between the eyes  
You're paralyzed"

"Amazing…" Orochimaru breathed.

"'Cause this is thriller  
Thriller night  
And no one's gonna save you  
From the beast about to strike  
You know it's thriller  
Thriller night  
You're fighting for your life  
Inside a killer  
Thriller tonight, yeah"

"This song…it suits me perfectly. Kabuto! Come here!" Immediately, the double-crossing medic-nin appeared by his master's side.

"Yes, Orochimaru-_sama_?" he asked.

"You hear the door slam  
And realize there's nowhere left to run  
You feel the cold hand  
And wonder if you'll ever see the sun  
You close your eyes  
And hope that this is just imagination  
Girl, but all the while  
You hear a creature creepin' up behind  
You're outta time"

"Summon the Sound Four, as well as any ninja not on missions or guard duty," Orochimaru commanded.

"'Cause this is thriller  
Thriller night  
There ain't no second chance  
Against the thing with the forty eyes, girl  
(Thriller)  
(Thriller night)  
You're fighting for your life  
Inside a killer  
Thriller tonight"

A few minutes later, all of the sound-nin had arrived. They stood in a semi-circle around their leader. "How can we serve you, master?"

"Night creatures call  
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade  
There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time  
(They're open wide)  
This is the end of your life  
They're out to get you  
There's demons closing in on every side  
They will possess you  
Unless you change that number on your dial  
Now is the time  
For you and I to cuddle close together, yeah  
All through the night  
I'll save you from the terror on the screen  
I'll make you see"

Sasuke turned around so that he was facing Orochimaru. He took a step back, and saw that his teacher stood with all of the other _shinobi_ around him.

"Dance with me," the snake-man hissed.

"That this is thriller  
Thriller night  
'Cause I can thrill you more  
Than any ghost would ever dare try  
(Thriller)  
(Thriller night)  
So let me hold you tight  
And share a  
(killer, diller, chiller)  
(Thriller here tonight)  
'Cause this is thriller  
Thriller night  
Girl, I can thrill you more  
Than any ghost would ever dare try  
(Thriller)  
(Thriller night)  
So let me hold you tight  
And share a  
(killer, thriller)

I'm gonna thrill you tonight."

In perfect step, the sound-nin followed Orochimaru in the _Thriller_ dance. Finally, Sasuke's _sharingan_ stopped spinning and he deactivated it. The music ended and Orochimaru stepped forward.

"Darkness falls across the land  
The midnight hour is close at hand  
Creatures crawl in search of blood  
To terrorize y'awl's neighbourhood  
And whosoever shall be found  
Without the soul for getting down  
Must stand and face the hounds of hell  
And rot inside a corpse's shell  
I'm gonna thrill you tonight.  
(Thriller, thriller)  
I'm gonna thrill you tonight  
(Thriller night, thriller))  
I'm gonna thrill you tonight  
Ooh, babe, I'm gonna thrill you tonight  
Thriller night, babe.  
The foolest stench is in the air  
The funk of forty thousand years  
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb  
Are closing in to seal your doom  
And though you fight to stay alive  
Your body starts to shiver  
For no mere mortal can resist  
The evil of the thriller."

All of the assembled _shinobi_ applauded at their master's performance. Since all of them were busy congratulating Orochimaru, none of them noticed the foreign presence in their lair.

Dan snorted. The fact that all of these imbeciles were distracted only made his job easier. He became intangible, then searched through Orochimaru's lair until he found the snake man's private quarters. He regained tangibility and held up a hand glowing with green energy. The green light glinted off of something, and the flash caught his eye. He floated over to where two replica hands stood on a counter, a ring with the kanji for '_kai_', or 'boar', resting on the pinky finger of the left hand.

"Bingo," the Phantom whispered to himself, as he removed the ring from the replica and placed it on his own left pinky. As soon as the task was complete, he vanished in a swirl of green ectoplasmic energy.

* * *

_koinu_-puppy

_otogakure no sato_-Hidden Sound Village

Come on, you know that Thriller is totally Orochimaru's song. A few weeks ago, I pictured him and all the sound-nin doing the Thriller dance, and decided that I _had _to have this scene in the story somewhere. It's the closest thing I've ever written to a songfic.


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, so this one's a little late. But I made up for it by giving you a double update! And just wait until you see the next chapter; it isn't that well-written, but a lot of pivotal stuff happens!

Also, you may or may not have noticed, but I changed the name of this fic from 'Ninja Phantom' to 'Cell Phantom'. This is because I've seen in a lot of Naruto Fanfiction that the word 'team' or 'squad' is many times replaced with the word 'cell.' Which makes sense, I suppose...these guys _are_ freakin' ninjas, it's logical that a battle group is similar to that of a terrorist cell. Except that these guys are Japanese and don't hate the free world.

Finally, I'm sorry if many of you were offended by Sai. I tried to keep him in character; the problem is that I don't know exactly what his character _is_. The anime hasn't gotten up to him yet, so all I've got to run on is Naruto Fanfiction and Wikipedia. According to both, Sai has a very abraisive personality, doesn't show any emotion (because of his time spent in ROOT, a division of ANBU), and is constantly making fun of Naruto's manhood. Go figure.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

"Are you okay?" He glared at her.

"Sorry…standard question." The three friends were conversing in the guest room of the Inuzuka clan's main house. Tucker and Sam had just finished unpacking, and wanted to speak with Danny before dinner.

"But seriously though, what happened?" Asked the techno-geek.

"Well, I'd asked Tsunade if I could be a temporary part of cell 7…at least until you guys graduate. She said that I could, but only if I beat this guy in a spar." Danny promptly related to them the details of Sai and his ink-based techniques. After the explanation, Sam and Tucker found themselves both surprised and annoyed. Surprised because of the lengths Sai had gone to to win, including summoning his ink-juggernaut, and annoyed at all of the jibes and insults that he threw at Danny during the fight.

"Honestly…there's no honor in fighting here," Sam noted.

"If you want honor, go be a samurai," said Kiba, who was leaning against the doorframe. He had been playing outside with Akamaru when Tucker and Sam had left their rooms to speak with Danny. None of them had heard him come in. "Ninjas fight with deception and stealth…and a lot of ass-kicking _jutsu_, obviously."

"Obviously," Danny echoed. Kiba stepped into the room.

"So what kinds of _jutsu_ do you use anyway?" Danny shot a glance at his friends. He wasn't about to reveal his secret to this kid so soon, not if he could help it.

"You…wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kiba snorted.

"Yeah, right. My friend uses _bugs_ to fight. Try me."

"Alright then…I use ghost-type techniques." Kiba blinked confusedly.

"What, like a _genjutsu_?"

"Er, yeah," Danny said, thankful for the ready-made excuse. "I cast a _genjutsu_ on my opponents and make them think that I'm a ghost, then I fly around and use all kinds of ghost-type attacks on them."

"Awesome…" Kiba breathed. "You should totally meet with Kurenai-_sensei_; she's a _genjutsu_ specialist."

"I'll be sure to do that," the halfling replied, thankful for the close shave. He was worried that Kiba would press him further, but salvation came in the form of Tsume calling everyone downstairs for dinner, but yelling to Danny that she'd bring him something since he wasn't supposed to leave the bed. The others all left Danny's room, and gave the teen a brief space in which to think.

Danny wondered what his enemies were doing right now. He thought about whether Dan would consider joining Orochimaru, but eventually decided against it. Although both the snake-man and Plasmius were known turncoats, as likely to defend their friends as stab them in the back, what Danny had heard about the immortality-seeking traitor just didn't jive with his foes. For one thing, not even Vlad was as creepy as Orochimaru had sounded. And for another, Dan was way too forthright and destructive ever to lurk in the shadows and plot like Orochimaru does. And besides, they have Zabuza with them, and he would certainly know better than to allow them to align themselves with Orochimaru.

Of course, since Zabuza was with them, it was a distinct possibility that the three of them were on their own, almost like wandering-nin. The former member of the _shinobagatana nananin sho_ would show them the ropes of the ninja world as they avoided _oinin_ from the various Hidden Villages until it was time for them to make their move. That is, unless there was someone else, a person even more powerful than Orochimaru that Danny hadn't learned about yet. The ghosts could align themselves with someone else…but Danny had no evidence for this so he had no choice but to discount it. That left the wandering-nin theory, which seemed the most likely based on what Danny had learned so far.

That provided it's own set of problems, the halfa realized with a start. Since Zabuza, Plasmius, and Dan weren't aligned with a village, the espionage networks of the Hidden Villages were unlikely to be keeping any tabs on them. This gave them the ability to strike at any time without warning.

Sam came into his room carrying a plate of what appeared to be meatloaf.

"Here you go," she said. "What's up?" she asked, noticing Danny's pensive facial expression.

"Just thinking," he replied.

"About what?"

"About…we need to train as hard as we can." Sam rolled her eyes and put the plate down on Danny's bed a bit more forcefully than was necessary.

"This again? We've already been through this! Tuck and I are training our butts off! Heck, Tuck couldn't even walk here this evening; he'd worked out until he dropped, literally. What more do you want from us?"

"Sam, they could attack us at any time! Zabuza was a very skilled ninja. Even though we beat him before, in this world you two are still novices." Sam gaped at him.

"And what are you? _Hokage_? You're acting as though you're so high and mighty, and Tuck and I are lucky to have made it this far."

"I already passed the _genin_ test," Danny told her. "I can focus my _chakra_, and use _taijutsu_, and throw weapons. Of course I need to train as well; I never said I didn't. My training is just different than yours. Why are you getting so upset over this?"

"Because…because we feel like we're being left behind. Danny, it's as though you're up on some mountaintop while we're clawing our way up." Danny chuckled, then reached over and began eating his meatloaf.

"Sam…it's like I said before. I can't do the same type of training you guys do, because I've already done it. Don't think I'm not doing anything; now that I'm a temporary member of Cell 7 I'll train with Naruto and Sakura, under Kakashi-_sensei_. But again…I can fight. Somewhat. I'm just a _genin_; there's no way I'd beat a _jounin_ like Zabuza by myself. But I've passed the academy, something that you guys still desperately need to do if we're to beat these guys." Sam was quiet for a minute, then looked up.

"We need a bunch of ninja on our side," she said. "Even when Tuck and I graduate, and the three of us become a team, we'll still be a bunch of novices. It's like you said, _genin_ can't take on a _jounin_ like Zabuza, especially when he has ghost powers and Dan and Vlad on his side. We need experienced ninja to help us fight." Danny sighed and looked up as well, meeting her eyes.

"Who do you think will stand by us from this village?"

"I…well…I'm sure Iruka-_sensei_ would, and Lee, Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura."

"Anyone else?" Sam looked at him strangely.

"Danny…we don't know anyone else."

"Exactly," the halfa asserted. "Once your training is finished and we form our own three-man cell, we'll start working on meeting as many ninja as we can and seeing if they can help us fight. But we can't do that just yet."

"Why not? Tucker and I are meeting loads of new people through our training, like Hinata's team and Lee's team. I'm not sure about Shino, but Kiba would probably help us out if we needed." Danny nodded.

"And Tenten would as well…though I still need to get Neji to trust me before I can consider counting on him…." Danny tried to finish his sentence, but it was eclipsed by a large yawn.

"You should sleep," Sam said. "We can talk about this later."

"Yeah…g'night…" Danny said with a small wave.

"Goodnight," was the reply, as Sam sat up from Danny's bed. She reached under his bedside lamp and doused it, then left the room.

No doubt with the aid of his ghostly abilities, not to mention the fact that his injuries barely extended to anything other than severe _chakra_ depletion, Danny recovered from his injuries in no time. Thus the training of Team Phantom began in earnest. Danny trained with the other members of Cell 7 and occasionally left on missions with them. Their missions were typically escort missions, in which they had to protect a wealthy patron from potential attackers as said patron made his way from point A to point B. The attackers were usually highwayman, although there was the occasional ninja attack.

Tucker and Sam worked with Iruka. He taught them all about the history of _Konoha_, and all of the nuances of ninja life, such as drawing upon _chakra_, weapons, ninja ranks, mission rankings, _jutsu_ theory, and a few _genin_-level _jutsu_

After that, Tucker would have a backbreaking session of physical training with Gai and Lee. As of two months, he had yet to finish a session without passing out. Sam would work on _chakra_ control with Hinata, and would occasionally spar with the other members of Cell 8.

After training, they would revive Tucker and then head out to Ichiraku's for some ramen. The three frequented the stand primarily because of the delicious ramen, but also because it was an excellent place to meet new people. Ichiraku's was a main hangout among the Rookie 9, or the nine _genin_ that had all graduated in the same year. In addition to Cell 7 and Cell 8, they also encountered Cell 10, which consisted of Ino Yamanaka (the tension between her and Sam at their first meeting was so thick one could cut it with a _kunai_, although neither Danny nor Tucker had any idea why), the lazy _chuunin_ that Danny had noticed before who was named Shikamaru Nara, and a rotund boy named Chouji Akimichi. It was also where Sam met the other members of Lee's squad (just as there was tension between Ino and Sam, Neji and Danny were shooting death glares at each other the whole meal), as well as where the three of them encountered all four groups' _jounin sensei_.

Ramen was usually followed by dinner at the Inuzuka complex. On days when Danny was not away on missions the three would then spend time discussing various topics, such as that day's training, which of their new friends they could trust to fight Zabuza, Dan, and Plasmius, Ichiraku's newest flavor of ramen, and what their enemies were probably doing at the time.

At the end of two months, Sam and Tucker took an informal _genin_ exam, which they passed with flying colors. Danny looked on proudly as Iruka handed them their _konoha hitai-ate_. Tucker kept his around his waist, like Lee and Gai did. Sam had wanted to do something distinctive and individual with her headband, but Danny pointed out that all of the unconventional places for wearing it were pretty much taken already. Besides, he reasoned, it might actually save her life in a fight. So she grudgingly wore hers around her forehead.

Once the two of them became _genin_, Danny requested that he be allowed to switch out of Cell 7 and join them in a three-man cell. Tsunade readily agreed, knowing that despite the similar hair and clothing, Danny was not a replacement for Sasuke. Although their mission success rate hadn't declined significantly, he just wasn't totally compatible with the other two. So she allowed Danny to leave Squad 7, and form a three-man cell with Tucker and Sam.

Cell Phantom was born.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

"Well, _Dan-no-danna_, I think you're ready, _un_." The evil specter nodded as he donned his Akatsuki cloak after a morning spar. He hadn't been the _only_ one training over the past two months. The other members of Akatsuki, particularly Zabuza and Deidara, had taught him all about the new world that he'd arrived in. They introduced him to _ninjutsu_ and _genjutsu_, and helped him train with weapons. As a _shinobi_, he wasn't exactly at the level of an S-ranked criminal just yet, but when he used his newly acquired abilities in conjunction with his already-formidable ghostly ones, he was one of the most powerful among the organization, excepting perhaps Itachi and Sir Leader-_Sama_. 

"So you think it's high-time for Zabuza and I to pay our…_friends_…a little visit?"

"Well, unless you suddenly grow a pair of mouths," the blonde waved his hands, which each sported a small, grinning mouth, "or develop an earth affinity, then there's nothing more I can really teach you, _un_. So I guess it's time to go to _Konoha_, _un_."

"I agree," stated the Leader. The two Akatsuki members jumped, neither of whom having heard the man approach. "My organization has upheld its side of our bargain. We have given you shelter and training for the past two months. Now it is time for you to go to _Konoha_ and retrieve the _kyuubi_ vessel. I am sending Itachi and Kisame along with you, since Naruto is supposed to be their objective. I suppose you will do whatever you like with Fenton once you've captured him?"

"Correct," the spirit replied. "Are you sure you want to send those two along with us?" The Leader nodded, although it was tough to tell through the shadows that masked his identity.

"As I said before, the _kyuubi_ is their objective. I trust that you do not mind the additional company?" He asked, his voice dropping dangerously.

"Oh no, not at all," Dan said as he waved his hands in front of him defensively. "It'll be our _pleasure_. Zabuza!" The glowing-green swordsman instantly appeared at his side. "It's time for us to leave. We will head to _Konoha_, along with Itachi and Kisame, to capture Uzumaki and destroy little Danny." If it weren't for the bandages covering the lower part of his face, Zabuza would have given them all a nice glimpse of his pointed teeth.

"It's about time. Let's roll!"

Part of the border between Fire Country and River Country is, well, a river. At a certain point on the River Country side, a huge mountain juts out from the river. At the base of the mountain there is an enormous boulder, easily twenty feet tall, with a tag that has the _kanji_ for 'barrier' written on it attached to the rock. The boulder conceals a cave in the mountain, inside of which is the lair of some of the most powerful _shinobi_ ever to walk the face of the earth.

Suddenly, two spirits shot out of the boulder, intangible, and flew into Fire Country. A couple of seconds later, the tag on the rock began to glow with blue _chakra_, and a moment later the rock slowly levitated above the mouth of the cave. One was of average height. His cloak, black with red clouds, obscured most of his body. However, since the top of the cloak was unzipped, one could see his face. He had long black hair, twin marks that ran diagonally down his face, and cold, red eyes. The other man was tall and blue-skinned. He sported a huge sword slung over his back, pointed teeth, and gills.

"Would have been nice of them to have waited for us, eh, Itach-_san_?" The tall man pressed his partner.

"Whatever. Let's go, Kisame." The man, Itachi, did not allow even a drop of emotion to enter his voice, leading one to question whether the teen even felt anything at all. The two of them leaped across the river at inhuman speeds, and tore through the forests of Fire Country in pursuit of the twin spirits. After their departure, the boulder that concealed the Akatsuki Hideout slowly returned to its original position.

Meanwhile… 

Ichiraku Ramen was fairly crowded that afternoon. Sakura hadn't been able to make it, saying that she had a bunch of medical texts that she needed to read, so Naruto was the only member of his team present. However, Hinata was there representing her squad, and benches were also filled by Team 10 and by Team Gai. Team Phantom was also in attendance. Everyone was slurping ramen happily, until Danny nearly choked on a wisp of blue smoke that he'd suddenly exhaled.

"Hey, cool! Did you just breathe out _chakra_? Teach me how to!" Naruto, who was sitting next to Danny, shouted, causing everyone else to look over.

"What are you yelling about, Naruto? How troublesome…" Shikamaru groaned.

"Danny? Are you alright?" Ino asked, since Danny was now out of his seat and looking fearfully to the west. The hybrid ignored her and turned to Sam and Tucker.

"It's them," he reported. "Dang, I thought we'd have more time than this…but come on, it's time to put all our training to use." He took off, and Tucker and Sam immediately stood up and followed. Everyone else present looked at each other, silently asking for an explanation.

"Geez, what's up with him?" asked Ino.

"I don't know," growled Neji, "but I intend to find out." A second later he, too, had taken off.

"Neji! My eternal rival! WAIT!" Lee yelled, then ran after Neji. Tenten sighed and put a hand to the bridge of her nose, then followed her teammates, knowing that Lee's exuberance would probably lead to trouble.

"Hey, where's everyone going?" Naruto asked, then followed after Team Gai.

"What's wrong with everybody today?" Ino asked her teammates.

"I don't know, but maybe they need help!" Chouji asserted. "We should help them…once I finish this bowl of ramen."

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru moaned, but since Chouji had already finished his ramen by then, he had no choice but to follow his big-boned friend in pursuit of the others. Ino sighed, muttered something along the lines of 'stupid boys,' and ran after them. Hinata looked left, then right, and saw that she was the only one left.

"W-wait for me!" She yelled (although it came out more like a loudish whisper), then followed everyone else. She wasn't as fast as the others, so it was at least thirty seconds before she'd caught up with them. Everyone was standing in a training grounds, it didn't really matter whose, where Danny, Sam, and Tucker stood in fighting stances.

In front of them stood four Akatsuki.

"I see you've made some new friends," Danny was saying to the Akatsuki; the spectators weren't sure which one. Although they had a hunch it was the one with blue skin and fiery white hair.

"I can see you've done the same," drawled the Akatsuki in question. "After all, we are so very alike, you and I."

"I am nothing like you," Danny growled.

"Suuure, you're not," the Akatsuki replied disbelievingly. An instant later, his red eyes had transformed so that they were identical to those of one of the other Akatsuki, the one with black hair and scratch marks on his face.

"If you insist," Danny replied, as the veins around his eyes swelled with the power of his _dojutsu_.

"_WHAT?!_" Neji gasped audibly, shocked that the raven-haired teen would possess his clan's _kekkei genkai_.

"_YOU!_" shouted yet another voice. Everyone turned to the woods near the training post, where they could see an orb crackling with electrical energy. A second later, the owner of the voice revealed itself to be the youngest Uchiha as he sprinted towards Itachi, _chidori_ at the ready.

"_I'LL KILL YOU!_"

"Uchiha?"

"Sasuke-teme?"

"What are you doing here?" Naruto and Neji both deadpanned. Danny, however, ignored Sasuke's sudden presence. He charged his own hand with ectoplasmic energy and sprinted towards Dan. At the same time, the two Akatsuki easily caught the wrists of the two _genin_, instantly causing their attacks to die down. They stared at their victims as the two swordsmen drew their blades and formed a small army of _mizu bunshin_, keeping any of the others from escaping.

"Foolish little brother."

"You are such a child."

Both sets of _sharingan_ morphed into the bloodline's most powerful form, the _mangekyou_. Dan and Itachi turned around and slammed their victims against the wooden training posts just behind them.

"You are weak," they chorused.

"Why are you so weak?"

"Because you lack…hatred." Dan and Itachi looked into the eyes of Danny and Sasuke, trapping them in the world of _tsukiyomi_. "For the next seventy-two hours, you will witness their deaths repeatedly," the two _sharingan_ warriors informed their victims. Five seconds found the two boys screaming and writhing in agony.

"What do we do?" Tucker asked nervously.

"We fight, that's what!" Sam replied as she drew several weapons from her thigh holster.

"That's right," Naruto said. "Danny and Sasuke are in trouble, and we need to fight for them!"

"Yosh! Our comrades are in danger and we must protect them with the flames of youth!" Lee shouted.

"Allow us to douse those flames of yours," Zabuza said, as his and Kisame's clones moved in on the group of teens.

"Hold on," Dan ordered, causing the two swordsmen to stop in their tracks.

"He's right," Itachi added. "It won't be long before _jounin_ and ANBU arrive. We must retreat." Dan threw Danny at Tucker, who was squashed by the additional weight of his friend, and summoned a portal to Amity Park, during Danny's time.

"Wait…if you could just do that at the beginning, why'd we waste all that time at Clockwork's place fixing the machinery?" Zabuza asked.

"Because I didn't know the coordinates of this world," Dan answered. "Now that I know them, I can make a portal connecting the two worlds. Now follow me," he ordered, then grabbed Danny's body and stepped through the portal. Itachi threw Sasuke to the side. An instant later, he appeared behind Naruto. Before the orange-clad ninja could react, Itachi knocked him out, grabbed him, and followed Dan through the portal. Zabuza and Kisame dispelled their clones, and ran through the portal as well.

"W-what should we do?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"We follow them," Shikamaru answered. "Although we should really wait for ANBU to get here, who knows how long that portal will stay open? They've checked our king and forced our hand. It's troublesome, but we need to go through that portal." Even as he finished speaking, the portal began to shrink. The young _shinobi_ hopped to attention and dashed through the portal, Hinata barely making it through before it closed. An instant later, the field was flooded by ANBU operatives, as well as the four teams' _jounin sensei_s. But they were too late.

Ten _genin_ and one _chuunin_ had just been transported to Amity Park.

* * *

I realize that there are a couple of plot-holes here (the sad result of waiting so long between updating), such as 'what the heck is Sasuke doing there?' and 'hasn't Neji figured out that Danny has the Byakugan yet?' and 'how the heck did the Akatsuki get to Konoha so quickly?' and 'how will the Akatsuki extract the kyuubi from Naruto if they're in Amity Park?' But I'm trying to work some of these out, so the following chapters will run more smoothly.

I realize that this chapter was very jerky and poorly written, but I needed to bring the fight to Amity Park.

Also, I've read in some DP fanfiction about this thing called the 'disasteroid', and something about Danny getting all the ghosts to make the whole world intangible to stop a giant asteroid from hitting it. Did a new episode come out that I wasn't aware of? As far as I know, the only season 3 episode of DP to air was 'urban jungle'.

Oh, and speaking of which, Danny's ice powers _will_ play into this fic a little later. Just wait and see. (Grins evilly).


	12. Chapter 12

Wow, a next-day update...I'm on a roll!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

They found themselves outside the Nasty Burger in the middle of the day. The place was empty, the lack of students indicating that it was a weekday and school was in session.

"Alright, where are we?" Shikamaru asked boredly.

"Amity Park, America," Sam replied, never taking her gaze off the four Akatsuki.

"Dan," Itachi said tonelessly, "you know this place better than any of us. Show us a safe place where we can keep these two." Dan nodded and duplicated while Itachi summoned a shadow clone. The clone and the duplicate grabbed Danny and Naruto and took off, while the originals squared off with the motley group of teens.

The two sides stared each other down, a breeze smelling of grease vats and condiments ruffling their hair and clothing. The _genin_ (and Shikamaru) were trying to figure out how to survive this encounter while the Akatsuki were internally debating on which ways to disembowel the younger ninja would be most satisfying.

_Let's see…brain, jugular, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver…I know I'm missing a couple…hey, what are you doing? _Zabuza thought. Suddenly, Dan broke the silence by cackling loudly.

"Ha, ha HA! What are we doing, just standing around? With Danny-boy out of the way, there's nothing any of you can do to slow us down!" He rose up into the air and shot forward at the group, only to be repulsed by a blast of green ecto-energy.

"What the…" the specter muttered to himself. Tucker and Sam looked around, hoping to see Danny's parents, while everyone else was just looking to see what the heck had just happened. They finally followed the smoking ecto-gun, which was being held by…Tenten!

"How did you get that?" Sam asked the weapons mistress. Said brunette simply held out the summoning scroll from which she'd conjured the small device.

"Naruto showed me all of these strange weapons that he said worked against ghosts, so I decided to make a scroll for them, in case we ever encountered any."

"But how did Naruto…oh yeah," said Tucker.

Flashback 

"Okay, first off, this is the Fenton Portal. It acts as a gateway between our world and the Ghost Zone, which is where ghosts live. Whenever ghosts come out of the portal, its our job as ghost hunters to catch them and force them back into the Ghost Zone using devices that were invented by me, Jack Fenton!" The genin were bored to the point where they were almost nodding off. Or at least, two of them were.

"_That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "What kinds of inventions have you made?"_

"_I'm glad you asked that, Naruto. One of the things I've developed is the Specter Deflector, which shocks any ghost that comes into direct contact with the person wearing it." Jack strapped an anti-ghost belt onto each of them. "Another thing I've invented is the Fenton Thermos." He held up a thermos for them to see. "It sucks ghosts inside and negates their powers so that they can't escape. And there's the Fenton Fisher, which is like a fishing rod but it's made of a material that ghosts can't break, and the Fenton Weasel, and the Fenton Ghost Peeler…" Naruto was listening with rapt attention as the other two started zoning out._

_Finally, the three genin ambled up the staircase, Naruto's arms laden with anti-ghost weaponry._

End Flashback 

"_Yosh_! Tenten's use of these hip, modern weapons is an excellent expression of her YOUTH!" Lee shouted. Nobody paid him any attention.

"So you've got a few toys, eh?" Dan hissed as he stood up, wincing at the stinging sensation he felt in his chest. "No matter…it won't do you any good."

"Really?" Asked Tenten as she bit her thumb and placed it on the second _kanji_ seal on the scroll, summoning a Fenton Thermos. "Then how about this one?" She pointed the thermos straight at Dan and pressed the button, causing a beam of blue energy to strike him and begin sucking him into the device. Dan grunted and broke out of the thermos' tractor-beam, causing the beam to dissapate.

"I think it's time to let us _humans_ take over, eh, Dan?" Kisame said with a chondrichthine grin. He and Itachi moved to attack, but found that they were paralyzed.

"What the heck?" The shark-man asked, surprised and annoyed at his sudden paralysis.

"_Kaegemane no jutsu_, success," drawled Shikamaru. For the first time, the rest of them noticed that his shadow had stretched forward and encompassed those of Itachi, Kisame, and Zabuza, freezing them in place.

"The Nara clan's shadow imitation, huh?" Itachi said. "Interesting…Kisame, if you would be so kind as to break through this pathetic _jutsu_, it would be much appreciated."

"Sure thing, Itachi-_san_," growled Kisame, as the blue-skinned swordsman began to force his limbs to move independently of Shikamaru's. The Nara heir grunted at the resistance.

"It takes almost inhuman strength to forcefully break out of _kagemane no jutsu_, but this guy isn't exactly human, is he? How troublesome…" he informed the others.

"Then I guess we should exploit their immobility while we still can, right, Lee?" Tucker asked.

"Yosh!" The two green-jumpsuited boys rushed towards the Akatsuki, intending to deal them a few blows before they broke out of their paralysis. Before they reached them, however, they were blocked by a pair of Dan duplicates, which stood menacingly in their way. Tucker and Lee glanced at each other.

Approximately three seconds later, the duplicates had been beaten into submission and the two spandex-clad lads continued in their assault. However, that had been enough time for Kisame to break out of the _kagemane no jutsu_, so the two boys had to retreat in the face of two giant blades and one _sharingan_ warrior. Suddenly, Itachi turned around and raised his foot up. He kicked Neji, who had vanished and reappeared behind him in a blur of speed and attempted to close some of his _tenketsu_, in the stomach. He grabbed the Hyuuga prodigy by the throat and stared into his eyes for a second, then threw him into a wall of the Nasty Burger.

"Neji!" Hinata shouted.

"My eternal rival!" Yelled Lee, who had expected Neji to get up the next second and continue with his assault, and was worried when he failed to do so.

"He won't be getting up for a while. Consider yourselves fortunate that I did not see the need to give him any more than a moderate dose of _tsukuyomi_," said Itachi.

"You've been awfully silent this whole time, Zabuza," panted Kisame, a tad winded from having broken out of Shikamaru's Shadow Possession. The Demon of the Bloody Mist responded by raising his _zanpato_…and holding it up to his jugular vein.

"What are you doing, you fool?" Dan spat.

"Sorry, Zabuza's not home right now," the man replied, his voice high-pitched, almost like that of a teenage girl. "Can I take a message?"

"Yeah, Ino!" Chouji cheered. Sam articulated her confusion in a very erudite manner.

"Huh?"

"_Shintenshin no jutsu_," Shikamaru answered. "Ino can invade an enemy's mind and take over their body."

"She can split her mind in two?" Tucker questioned.

"No…she has to leave her own body behind."

"Then, how is she…" Tucker was about to say, but then noticed that Ino was standing in the exact same position as Shikamaru. He'd used his _kagemane no jutsu_ on her at the very beginning while she took over Zabuza so that nobody would suspect anything.

"Now," began Ino, "I want all of you to leave this place and keep going until we can't sense your _chakra_ anymore. If not…well, let's just say that we'll find out if ghosts can die a second time." She inched the blade closer to Zabuza's neck, drawing a minute trickle of ectoplasm. The Akatsuki glanced at each other.

"Very well." Itachi answered. The four of them took off in the same direction as Itachi's and Dan's clones, and less than a minute later none of the assembled teens could sense their _chakra_ signatures. Shikamaru released Ino from his Shadow Imitation, and she faltered for a bit before gaining her balance.

"W-where could they have g-gone?" Hinata whispered.

"The only one who could possibly know for sure…is Danny," Sam replied morosely. "But since he's being held hostage,"

"We have no way of knowing. It's a catch-22," Shikamaru finished glumly.

"Can't you figure it out?" Ino questioned. "You know, with you being a tactical genius and all?"

"Not when I don't know anything about this place other than its name," the Nara shot back. He turned to Sam. "That's why we need you two to teach us as much about your home as possible, and even then, our chances of beating four Akatsuki are very slim. How troublesome…" Just then, the air was filled with a loud mechanical whining as a red-clad huntress landed her jet-sled in front of the ninja.

"All right, where's the ghost?" Valerie demanded, ecto-gun drawn. She caught sight of Tucker. "Cool outfit, Tucker." She paused. "Wait a minute…Tucker? Sam? You guys are back?"

"Back?" Sam echoed. "What are you talking about?"

"You two and Danny were declared missing two months ago," the huntress stated. There was a pause.

"This could present a problem," Tucker noted.

"SHNOOKUMS!" Everyone turned around and saw a blonde man wearing khakis and a sweater-vest, and a redheaded woman wearing a frilly, pink, floral-patterned dress, a pearl necklace, and diamond earrings, both of whom were making a bee-line for Sam.

"It could indeed," the Goth _kunoichi_ sighed, and allowed herself to be tackled by her parents.

Hinata and Lee looked worried, but the rest of the ninja looked oddly amused at the girl's fate.

* * *

FYI, the flashback scene was from Nine Tailed Ghost.

Jutsu Guide (Since there isn't really any other Japanese in this chapter):

_Kagemane no jutsu_-Shadow Imitation Technique. A jutsu unique to the Nara Clan, it enables the user to stretch his or her shadow. If the users shadow comes in contact with the opponent's shadow, the victim is then immobilized and forced to move exactly the way the user does. For example, if the user waves his left hand, the victim will do the same.

_Shintenshin no jutsu_-Mind/Body Transfer Technique. A jutsu unique to the Yamanaka Clan, it enables the user to leave his or her body and temporarily take over the body of the user's opponent. It is very difficult to aim this _jutsu_, which is why members of the Yamanaka Clan are usually teamed up with members of the Nara Clan; the opponent is frozen using Shadow Imitation, leaving them susceptible to the Mind/Body Transfer. Also, whenever the body that a Yamanaka is controlling takes damage, the Yamanaka's own body takes the same damage. For example, if Ino is controlling my body and you punch me/her in the mouth, Ino's mouth starts to bleed also.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

"Where have you been?"

"Are you okay?"

"Why did you run away from us, Sammykins?"

"What were you thinking?"

"When we get home, YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!" Sam sighed.

"Wait a second…where's Danny? Shouldn't he be with you two?" Valerie suddenly asked. Sam's parents both turned their noses up.

"The less that Fenton boy is corrupting our daughter, the better," her father stated. "It doesn't really matter where he is, as long as it's far away from Samantha."

_Samantha…?_ The assembled _shinobi_ thought simultaneously.

"And this restraining order should make sure of that," her mother added as she held up a legal-looking piece of paper.

"For all you know, Danny could be critically injured or dead," Tucker said to the couple, eyebrow raised, "and you wouldn't care, as long as he's away from Sam?"

"Well…wait a minute, how would he be injured or killed? What sort of things have you three gotten into over the past two months?" Sam's mother questioned as she involuntarily clutched Sam more tightly, almost to physically protect her from anyone out to do her harm.

"Mom…air…" Sam gasped. Her mother didn't seem to hear her.

"I would suggest you let her go," a voice said coolly. Sam's parents turned around and saw a boy with black hair tied back in a ponytail, two earrings, a green flak vest, and a bored facial expression.

"Oh really? And who might you be?" Her mother asked pompously.

"My name is not of any significance to you," Shikamaru replied. "However, you should know that I am prepared to obtain Sam's release…by any means necessary." Sam's father laughed rudely.

"You think you can threaten the Mansons? Well, I guess you are pretty brave for trying." He whipped out his cell phone and spoke rapidly into the mouthpiece. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling sound as the earth began shaking. Squads of bodyguards marched into the area, several helicopters arrived on the scene and dropped down even more guards. Within a minute, the entire street in front of the Nasty Burger was filled with bodyguards. Shikamaru smirked.

"I feel very sorry for you…Tucker, Lee, I think you can handle these guys."

"Yosh!" Lee shouted, and saluted smartly.

"Sure, no problem," Tucker added.

"Let me help," said Valerie. "I'm a ninth-degree blackbelt, you know." The ninja all looked at her, then chuckled.

"Sorry, Val, but we're a _little_ out of your league here," Tucker said. An instant later, he and Lee had disappeared. Like green pinballs, they shot from guard to guard, leaving a trail of incapacitated guards in their wake.

"Val?" Valerie wondered aloud. "How do you know who I am?" She demanded. Tucker paused in front of her.

"We've known since the beginning. Can I take questions later, though? I'm a bit busy at the moment." He became a green blur again as he and Lee knocked out guard after guard. A minute or so later, the two spandex-clad youths stood in front of Mr. and Mrs. Manson, an army of incapacitated guards littering the street around them.

"W-well, you still can't have Samantha!" Mrs. Manson protested, but looked over and saw Sam standing next to a blonde girl wearing a revealing purple outfit and bandages covering her thighs and midriff. She looked down into her arms, almost to double-check that her daughter wasn't there, and looked back. Sam was still standing next to the blonde.

"But…how?"

"I got her free while you two were distracted watching Lee and Tucker, duh," Ino replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Now I would strongly suggest you leave," Shikamaru drawled. Sam's parents took one last look at their daughter.

"You _will _come back to us eventually, Samantha," her mother shouted as her father dragged the woman away from the scene.

"Shikamaru, they're her parents," Chouji said.

"And we need her to teach us about this world," the Nara genius replied calmly. "We can't have her in the hands of those morons, they would only hold her back."

"And I'm not really complaining," Sam added. "But now we don't have a place to stay."

"We could stay at my place," Tucker offered. "I don't think Danny's parents would host a bunch of strangers while he's still 'missing'. Where are they, anyway?" He looked left and right, as though almost expecting the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle to come barreling towards them at any second. Though it was difficult to tell because of the mask, he saw that Valerie's gaze was downcast.

"What happened?" He asked her.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton have been really…quiet…since you guys disappeared," the huntress answered. "Whenever a ghost would show up, they wouldn't be nearly exuberant as they used to be…and eventually they just stopped coming. I don't think they've left the house for anything except food in the past week or so…and Jazz has been totally withdrawn at school. I guess I can't say that I've been any different, though…without _Danny Phantom_ around to try and obliterate, it's been really dull for the past couple of months." Tucker and Sam shot each other concerned looks, which Valerie caught.

"Yes, I _know_," she said, annoyed. "It'd take an idiot _not_ to know, seeing as Phantom's been quiet ever since Fenton disappeared." She chuckled bitterly. "I guess that explains why Paulina hasn't figured it out yet…she's still mooning over 'her ghost-boy.'" Sam chuckled dryly.

"What about everyone else at school?" Tucker asked.

"Only Lancer's figured it out…like I said before, it'd take an idiot not to know."

"And Danny's parents?" Sam asked.

"You know, I'm not really sure," Valerie replied. "If they do, it'd definitely factor into their withdrawal over the past few weeks."

"You've come to terms with him being the ghost that…well…that cost your dad his job?" Tucker pressed. Valerie tore off her mask and looked him in the eye.

"Obviously. If I hadn't, I would've held an ecto-gun to your heads long ago and demanded where he was." Her gaze became downcast again.

"I don't forgive him…I don't think I ever can…but I understand his role in what happened, and…I understand why he did what he did, and why he acted the way we did every time we fought."

"Excuse us…" Shikamaru interrupted, "but…who are you?"

"Sorry," Valerie said, "I was so busy thinking about how everything's gone to hell over the past two months, I'd forgotten you guys were their. I'm Valerie Grey."

"She's a local ghost hunter…and our friend," Tucker added. Valerie looked at him upon hearing the last part.

"After all that you've said….I think we can trust you," The techno-geek said. Valerie grinned, then turned to face the ninja.

"Now who are all of you?" The _shinobi_ all introduced themselves.

"I see…" said Valerie at the end of all of the introductions. "Ninjas, eh? I don't think I would've believed you earlier, but I can't really argue with that display you guys gave against the bodyguards," she gestured to the downed guards, most of whom were beginning to stir. "Well, there's no way we'll fit everyone in my apartment, and there aren't really any big, enclosed spaces except for the Fenton's lab or Sam's house, so I guess that leaves your attic, Tuck. The techno-geek nodded. Tenten rushed over to the wall where Neji had been thrust after his attempted attack on Itachi and picked him up.

"I'll take him," Valerie offered as she clicked her heels together and summoned her jet sled. Tenten looked rather doubtful, but Sam and Tucker convinced her that it was okay. The weapons mistress resignedly put the Hyuuga prodigy on the mechanical sled.

"All right, everyone follow me," Tucker said, then took off towards his house. Valerie was, to say the least, surprised that the (former) geek was able to run nearly as fast as her sled's maximum speed, not to mention the fact that the other people she'd just met seemed to be able to do the same. She was further shocked when Tucker and the others _walked up the wall_ of his house to enter his attic through the window.

"If I'm presumed missing, I don't want to have to go through my parents when the priority is to get everyone here," he explained as she landed, flabbergasted, in the attic and set Neji down.

"Yeah, but…the walls, and…sprinting, and…_what have you been doing for the past two months?_" Tucker sighed.

"It's kind of a long story, but it all started a little while ago when Danny was fighting Technus…"


	14. Chapter 14

Ach...I was trying for _so long_ to figure out a plot point that would help draw everything together next chapter. I _finally_ figured it out really late last night, so I was able to get a huge amount of writing done.

Happy July 4th, everyone!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

* * *

"So there's this whole world where ninjas are still in power, and have their own countries and politics?" Valerie asked disbelievingly.

"Yup. And Sam, Danny, and I all became fully-fledged ninjas."

"And you walked up the wall using your…_chakra_, was it?" Tucker nodded.

"That's all well and good," Chouji interjected, "but can you tell us about _this_ world? And more importantly, can you get some snacks? I'm starving!" Tucker looked to Sam.

"Could you run back to the Nasty Burger and get us some food?"

"Why can't you go?"

"I kinda stand out a bit, Sam," he replied. Sam took one look at the green jumpsuit and knew he was right.

"Fine…but don't make any major decisions while I'm gone!" An instant later, she'd disappeared out the window.

"I'm guessing the Nasty Burger is that restaurant we were outside during the fight earlier?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah," Tucker answered.

"Fight? Who were you fighting before I got there?" asked Valerie. Tucker sighed.

"Two ghosts, and two ninjas that came with us to this world," he replied. "They have Danny and another one of our comrades hostage."

"So that's why he's not here…we need to get him back!" Valerie asserted.

"Y-yes, we n-need to rescue D-danny and N-n-n-naruto," Hinata added, barely able to squeak out the end of her sentence before turning scarlet and reverting to pushing her index fingers together. Valerie cocked an eyebrow at the girl's weird behavior, but nodded nonetheless.

"But how are we gonna go about it?" The huntress inquired. Shikamaru sighed.

"It's troublesome, but as it is we have not idea where they might be hiding and we can't figure out how to get Danny and Naruto out without that information. If we can figure out what they're after, maybe we can deduce where they are."

"That makes sense…what do you think they want with them?" asked Valerie.

"That's the problem-I have no idea. They can't be holding them for ransom, because we're too far away from Konoha for anyone to be able to pay it. And there have only been a handful of sightings of those guys in black cloaks, so nobody really knows what their goals are. They targeted Naruto specifically, though, so there must be something about him that they're after."

"So we're not sure why they want this Naruto guy…but what about Danny?"

"I think," Tucker interjected, "I think they want to try and make Danny evil." He shot Valerie a wry look. "No matter what you thought of him before he disappeared, Danny was always good. He always fought to defend this town, and what happened between the two of you was an accident. He isn't evil. But the ghost in him _can_ be. I think that they want to bring that evil out." Suddenly, they heard someone groaning. Everyone turned to the source of the noise, which turned out to be Neji awakening from his unconsciousness.

"N-neji?" Hinata asked nervously. Neji's eyes flicked over to his cousin, at which point they widened considerably and he jumped two feet in the air. He ran behind Tenten and put the chocolate-eyed _kunoichi_ between himself and Hinata, using her as a human shield.

"K-keep her away from me!" The Hyuuga prodigy whimpered.

"Neji? Why are you afraid of Hinata all of a sudden?" Tenten inquired of her teammate.

"What has befallen my eternal rival?" said Lee. Ino stepped forward, her posture and facial expression emoting an air of expertise.

"The _mangekyo sharingan_," she explained. "Whatever it was that Itachi made him see, it must've involved Hinata doing something to him that made him scared of her. Let me take a look inside, I'll try and see what's wrong." She arranged her fingers into her family's unique seal, one that looked like a rectangle that, when she held it up to eye level, had Neji in its center. "_Shintenshin no jutsu!_" She cried, then crumpled to the floor. Valerie immediately ran over to her and laid her down in a supine position.

"Don't worry, guys, I know CPR!" She exclaimed. Everyone stared at her blankly.

"Uh…what are you doing?" asked Chouji.

"What do you mean, what am I doing? She's fainted!"

"No I didn't," Ino replied matter-of-factly. Valerie stared at Ino's prone form and briefly wondered whether or not she was crazy. "No, over here!" Ino said. Valerie turned to where Neji was standing, and the Hyuuga boy nodded.

"You guys aren't going to believe this one," Ino said through Neji's body.

"Why, what is it?" Chouji asked excitedly. Valerie was looking from Ino's body to Neji, her facial expression similar to that of any _normal_ resident of Amity Park upon having seen a ghost.

"In the _genjutsu_ that Itachi showed him, Neji was tortured by Hinata and her little sister for twelve hours straight."

"What's so unbelievable about that?" Shikamaru inquired.

"They…" Ino giggled. "They gave him French braids and put beads and ribbons in his hair!" Everyone present sweatdropped. An instant later, Neji was blinking and furiously rubbing his eyes as Ino returned to her body, stood up, and stretched.

"Wha-how-what did you do?" Valerie sputtered.

"Who did what?" Asked Sam, who had just climbed through the window, several take-out bags of Nasty Burgers clutched in her small hands. She tossed one bag to Chouji, and took out foil-wrapped burgers from the other bags.

"These are called Nasty Burgers," she told the assembled _shinobi_, then unwrapped a burger from its packaging. "You take them out of the foil and eat them." She gave a burger to everyone else and watched as they unwrapped their burgers and took their first bites. She noticed that Neji had quickly grabbed his burger at sat on the other side of the attic, behind a decrepit purple couch and as far away from Hinata as possible. She quirked an eyebrow but ignored the strange behavior, instead watching her friends' reactions to their first Nasty Burgers.

"Awesome!" Chouji exclaimed, and began to tear into his burger. Ino eyed hers warily.

"It tastes good…but it looks like the unhealthiest thing on the planet."

"It probably is," Tucker replied in-between bites. "But in our line of work, we burn off the fat, calories, sodium, and cholesterol after a couple hours of training, so it's no big deal." Ino kept glaring at her burger as though it was evil incarnate (which it was, to someone as concerned about their figure as she was), but decided that it was the only food she'd probably get for a while. She reluctantly took another bite. Everyone else ate their Nasty Burgers slowly, except for Chouji, who had already finished his first and had dived into the bag Sam had tossed to him for another.

_Meanwhile... _

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

A tiny drop of ice-cold wetness landed on the end of Danny's nose. The shock of the coldness of the water forced him out of unconsciousness. He scrunched his eyelids, shutting them even more tightly, before finally opening them slowly. The action did him little good, however, since the environment in which he'd found himself was nearly pitch-black, save for a slight blueish glow originating from beneath his field of vision and the glowing green of his prison guard.

"You're awake," Zabuza noted gruffly.

"Danny!" Shouted a loud, _loud_ voice over to his left. The halfa turned and saw Naruto. He was standing with his arms above his head, one end of a glowing chain wrapped around his wrists while the other end snaked upwards until it disappeared in the darkness above. A pair of manacles were locked around his ankles, their other ends bolted securely into what appeared to be a stone wall behind him. The floor, or what Danny could see of it by the glow of Naruto's chains, was also made of stone. Danny noted that he was in a similar position.

"Don't even think of escaping," rumbled Zabuza. "those chains are nearly indestructible, and absorb any _chakra_ that you try to force into them. You aren't breaking out. And even if you do," he hefted his _zanpato_ menacingly, leaving the rest to the boys' imaginations. Just then, the entire area was filled with a diabolic cackling.

_Clap, clap_

Immediately, Danny and Naruto's prison lit up. It turned out that they were in a large, limestone cave. Every once in a while a drop of freezing water would coalesce on the end of a stalactite and drop to the ground, thus explaining Danny's rude awakening. The two _genin_ found themselves bound to a pair of huge stalagmites nearly eight feet around. Zabuza was perched on what looked suspiciously like a stalagmite whose point had been sliced off, with one leg curled up on the ledge and the other dangling lazily. He held the grip of his _zanpato_ in his right hand (his left was draped over his knee), and the end of the blade rested on the ground. The spirit that activated the clap-on floodlights installed in the cave became visible as Dan decided to reveal himself in a flash of green energy.

"What do you want, you flame-haired weirdo?" Naruto shouted at him.

"Weirdo, eh? Is that the best you can come up with?" Dan asked, an amused grin playing on his lips. Within seconds, the grin vanished. "If you can't say anything intelligent then be silent, fool." He vanished and reappeared directly in front of Naruto, and quickly brought his knee up and slammed Naruto in the face. He swiftly turned around, the whirl of his Akatsuki cloak absorbing but a few drops of the rivulets of blood traveling down Naruto's downturned face. The rivulets began beneath his forehead protector, then slid to the end of his nose and dripped onto the floor. As Dan stalked away from the sun-kissed _jinchuuriki_, Danny watched as the blonde's forehead protector came loose and fell to the ground, clattering slightly on the stone floor of the cave as it landed.

"I have no use for a weakling such as him; _Kyuubi_ or no _Kyuubi_, he is not part of my plans." The specter walked over to Danny, then grabbed his chin and forced his face up, so that he was looking his alternate future self in the eyes. "It is you that I am interested in, Danny-boy, and only you."

"Why?" Danny growled. Dan feigned surprise.

"Come again?" He asked politely.

"You exist outside of time, you don't need me to become you. What do you want with me?" Dan cackled softly.

"That puny fourteen-year-old mind of yours is correct for once, I don't _need_ you to watch your precious people die before you in order to force you to become me. I've forced you to watch it countless times with _mangekyo sharingan_ and you're no closer to begging release from your sniveling humanity than before. No, I don't _need_ it. But I _want _it. I want to see the real thing, I want you to _suffer_ knowing that, despite all I've forced you to watch before, _this_ time it isn't an illusion. And you wouldn't come running to the cheesehead even after that," he chuckled to himself, "as if you even _could_ at this point. But I digress. You won't become me after I've destroyed everything you've ever cared about, but hey, that's okay. You'll be scarred for life, an empty shell of what you once were. And I'll stand over your crumpled, defeated body and _laugh,_ and _laugh_, and _laugh_ some more…because then I will have had my revenge…my revenge for having been defeated by my weaker, _human_ self and being stuffed into that ridiculous thermos. _That's _what I want." Danny glared up at the perversion of his ghostly self in utter hatred, until one line from Dan's soliloquy stood out from the rest.

"As if I even could…what happened to Plasmius?" Dan laughed heartily.

"Ah, you picked up on that, very good. When we first encountered Akatsuki, we were one person too many. So we had to…how do I say this…_cut_ him from the team."

"Was a real shame," Zabuza added as he beat a tattoo on the pommel of his _zanpato_. "Took us hours to get the ectoplasm off our cloaks." A large lump formed in Danny's throat.

"You…you killed him…you monsters," he whispered hoarsely.

"Ghosts, to be exact," Dan added jovially, "though you've no right to criticize us, seeing as half of you is one as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to arrange the space for our _other_ guests, not to mention our partners…" He slowly slipped out of the visible spectrum, leaving Danny and a semi-conscious Naruto under the care of the Demon of the Bloody Mist.

"_Ta._"

_Clap, clap, clap._

Darkness.

* * *

Yes, I gave their lair clap-on lights. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

As the rest of the _shinobi_ dined on their Nasty Burgers, Sam walked over to Tucker.

"Tuck, we need to talk." She glanced at the others. "_alone._" She grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit and dragged him over to the purple couch behind which Neji was cowering from Hinata. Sam kicked him out, and the two remaining members of Cell Phantom took his place, ignoring the urge to sneeze from all of the ambient dust.

"Geez, how often do you clean this place out, Tucker?" Sam asked, annoyed.

"Sam, what did you want to talk about? I was kind of enjoying my Nasty Burger." She bopped him on the head, then lowered her voice to a hushed whisper.

"Dan wants to kill everyone in front of Danny." Tucker rolled his eyes.

"If he wanted to do that, he could just _mangekyo sharingan_ him. Why would he go to the trouble of _actually_ killing everyone?"

"I don't know _why_," Sam hissed, "but the point is he _does_. Why else would he go to the trouble of coming _here_, to this time period? If all he wanted was to rule, he could've just gone back to his own time, after he'd destroyed everything." Tucker shrugged.

"Maybe he wants the thrill of destroying everything again? You know, the 'thrill of the hunt' Skulker's always going on about whenever he wants to rest Danny's pelt at the foot of his bed?" Sam fake-gagged.

"Ignoring the total grossness of that…that isn't a bad idea, but if that was the case he wouldn't have taken Danny and Naruto. He would've just killed them and gone on his rampage." Tucker chewed on his Nasty Burger thoughtfully.

"Maybe Plasmius intervened?" the techno-geek suggested. "Danny did say that in the future, he's just a broken old man. Maybe Vlad wants to have his money and his powers this time around."

"Now that you mention it," Sam mentioned, her expression thoughtful, "Vlad wasn't there when we faced off against those four right before coming back. I wonder what happened to him."

"Do you think they had him stay with the rest of the red-cloud guys as a liaison or something?"

"If there are any others. We don't know anything about those other two ninja, except that one is a swordsman like Zabuza and the other one, Itachi, is an Uchiha that has _mangekyo sharingan_, like Dan. We have no way of knowing if they're part of an organization or if the two of them just operate on their own."

"I dunno, Sam, those uniforms look a little too intricate for two lone operators to bother with. I get the feeling that they're part of something bigger. And if that's the case, Vlad could still be with them." Sam sighed.

"I guess that's one more possibility we can add to the growing list…so what do you think we should do now?"

"I'm thinking we should show everyone around town, let them see the sights. It would do everyone good to get out of this dusty attic now, since we don't know how long we may be stuck here in the future. Besides, maybe Shikamaru can deduce where they might be keeping Danny after having seen the town." Sam nodded, and the two of them stood up from their position behind the couch. They took one look at their friends, and immediately began cracking up.

Someone had forced Shikamaru to use his _kagemane no jutsu_ on Neji to make him sit still. Ino, Valerie, and Hinata were using the opportunity presented by the Hyuuga prodigy's temporary paralysis to weave his silky brown hair into two pigtails while Tenten unsuccessfully held back giggles and Lee cheered at his eternal rival's 'display of youth'. Neji, unable to completely break out of the Shadow Imitation technique fully, had only liberated himself enough for his right eye to twitch uncontrollably.

Once the girls had finished, the group agreed with Tucker's decision to explore the town. But not before Tucker had taken a picture of Neji's tresses with his PDA.

Unfortunately for Tucker and Sam, it was imperative that nobody recognize them. Since they were still considered missing, if anyone they knew spotted them it would lead to uproar. The assembled _shinobi_ decided that it would be simplest if the two disguised themselves in a _henge_, and the group acted as though Valerie was giving them a tour. The only major flaw in this plan would be if either of the two ran out of _chakra_; they had only been training for two months, after all, and simply didn't have the _chakra_ reserves of their more experienced comrades.

Potential setback notwithstanding, the two formed the 'tiger' hand seal, focused their _chakra_, and were covered momentarily by a small cloud of smoke. When the cloud cleared, Valerie's jaw hit the floor.

Where Tucker had been standing now stood a tall, muscular, dark-skinned adolescent wearing baggy blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and a white t-shirt with the words "You think so? Delta Epsilon prove it!" written in plain black letters on the chest. He was glasses-free, and instead of his beret wore a black baseball cap with Konoha's leaf symbol printed in white just above the brim.

In Sam's place stood a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens. She had waist-length, messy black hair and onyx eyes. She was wearing black hip-hugger jeans and a long-sleeved violet top. Her _henge_ kept the Konoha headband because she saw no need to hide it, especially when all of the other _shinobi_ continued to don theirs.

"How on earth…?" Valerie sputtered. Tucker grinned.

"Ninja skills, Val, ninja skills."

A few hours later found the ten teens walking around Amity Park. Valerie, sans the ghost gear, was leading the group with Tucker and Sam right behind her. The other seven followed along briskly, listening to Valerie describe some of the features of the town while they looked around in awe.

"I can't believe those two actually _lived _here," Ino whispered to Shikamaru. "It's so trendy!"

"Eh…trendiness is too bothersome to worry about," the shadow user replied offhandedly. Ino glared at him.

As the group was making their way over to the park, they passed by what appeared to be a large construction zone. However, the bulldozers weren't making repairs to the road. Instead, there were a few machines digging, while armies of workers swarmed over the site with shovels and other excavation equipment. Furthermore, there was a sign standing next to one of the bulldozers that read, "Amity Cave-Grand Opening," followed by a date later that week.

"Amity Cave? I don't think I've ever seen that before. What gives?" Asked Sam. Valerie shrugged.

"Apparently some paleontologist was here to give a lecture at the university. He had some time off and was hanging out in the park, when he somehow found this really rare type of rock sticking out of a hill. He told the town officials, and when they started digging, they found all kinds of rocks. I heard they even found a stalactite cave, but nobody's come out officially and confirmed that. Anyway, once all of the scientists leave they'll turn it into a tourist attraction."

"Can we see it when it opens?" Tucker asked her. Valerie shook her head.

"Nah, I saw what they're planning on charging for admission, and they're skinning everyone alive. Of the money that I budget for free spending from my paycheck, I don't have enough left for admission. Wait until later next week, when my next payday rolls around; we can all go then." Tucker nodded.

"Are there any other places here that are of particular significance to Danny?" Neji asked. Valerie chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"I guess we could try his house…" she mused. "I'm just not sure if his parents could handle it. They're in such a delicate emotional state, it could do more harm than good if they were to see us, and then hear about what happened to Danny." There was a short silence while the teens considered this. Was the information they might gain from visiting FentonWorks worth the emotional strain it might put on Jack and Maddie?

"I…I think it's worth a shot," said Tenten. Everyone turned to look at her. "I mean, if we don't go there and it takes us even longer to find Danny because of it, won't they be in an even worse emotional state once we _do_ get around to seeing them?"

"That makes sense, I guess…" Chouji muttered in-between bites of potato chips whose bag he'd withdrawn from a pouch on his hip. "What do you think, Shikamaru?" Konoha's strategical and tactical genius blinked.

"Tenten's argument seems logical. All right, we'll pay a visit to Danny's parents."

"All righty, then," Sam exclaimed, then pointed out into the distance, where the giant, metallic Op Center towered above all of the neighboring buildings.

"To FentonWorks!"

Elsewhere… 

"I can't believe I'd forgotten," Naruto mumbled. Danny looked up interestedly, this being the first time Naruto had spoken since their last encounter with Dan.

"Forgotten what?" The halfa asked, curious.

"Your family, that's what!" Naruto exclaimed, his face still downcast and cloaked in shadow. "You had a family here, in Amity Park. I met them…how could I have forgotten?" Danny cocked an eyebrow.

"Naruto…I don't really think that now is the time…I mean, I'm not really offended or anything like that, but even so-"

"You left them to go be a ninja…" Naruto hissed. He then looked up, and Danny gasped. "HOW COULD YOU?" Naruto bellowed. His eyes had lost their sapphire blue, and were instead deep pools of crimson with slitted pupils. The three whisker marks on each cheek had thickened considerably, and his canines lengthened and sharpened to the degree that they were poking out from underneath his upper lip.

"Naruto…what are you talking about?" Danny asked him.

"YOU HAD A FAMILY!" Naruto screamed. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE, GROWING UP WITH NO ONE? GROWING UP ALONE? YOU HAD IT ALL, TWO LOVING PARENTS, A SISTER WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, GREAT FRIENDS…AND YOU RAN AWAY FROM IT ALL, JUST SO YOU COULD BE A NINJA!" He gulped in air, then let it out and drew several shallow breaths. When he next spoke, his tone was deceivingly docile. "When us _shinobi_ of the Leaf fight, we fight for our comrades, our friends and our families. I want to be _hokage_, the leader of my village, to prove to everyone that I _am_ capable of caring for others, whether or not I have this demon inside of me. Everyone thinks that because I have no family to take care of me and protect me, I have no one that I'd fight for, _die_ for. I will prove them wrong. You, though…you fight for no one. You think this is all a game, a comic book, where the kid gets super powers and uses them to fight evil. The kid defends his town and is hailed as a hero, but come on…the bad guy isn't hurting the hero's _family_, his _friends_…just the town as a whole. You don't fight _for_ anyone. You may have the powers of a ghost, and the abilities of a _shinobi_, but now that somebody is actually threatening the people you care about, you can't do anything except stare at the ground. When your precious people are on the line, you can't fight for them because you don't know how. You disgust me." The words pierced Danny like a thousand _kunai_.

You disgust me… 

They hurt so much more because, when Danny thought about it, he knew them to be true. He always fought because the ghosts were damaging someone's property or something ridiculous like that. His foes never seriously wanted to do anyone any harm. Well, except maybe Technus wanting to take over the world, but everyone knew that that was a joke.

_You disgust me…_

But when the fights got serious, like against Vlad, or against Dan, Danny always got pounded. He only made it out of those fights by the skin of his teeth half the time, and by luck the other half.

_You disgust me…_

When someone posed a serious threat to his friends or family, he was never able to save them. And then he abandoned all of them to go play ninja, to learn how to throw _shuriken_ and mold _chakra_, to get a bloodline limit.

You disgust me… 

There wasn't a single instance in which an enemy had everyone he cared about hostage, and he was able to overpower the foe and save his family, his friends. When Dan had them tied to those tanks at the Nasty Burger, he had to tap into a power he'd barely used before, one that he hadn't been entirely sure would even work when he'd used it. It was through sheer luck that his Ghostly Wail had worked right.

Wait a minute…no, there was one time…with Freakshow, when he got the Reality Gauntlet. He had everyone stuck on that roller coaster of doom, and Danny had used his powers to save them and force Freakshow into the Fenton Thermos. He'd been driven by the desire to save everyone, and had fought for them and pulled through. Hey, yeah…

"Dan," Itachi began. "We would like to return to our own universe with the _kyuubi_. Our organization requires the power the _bijuu_ possesses."

"Don't you worry-" Dan paused mid-sentence. "Power, you say?" Kisame nodded.

"Yeah. We want to bring the _kyuubi_ kid back with us so that we can draw out the nearly unlimited supply of _chakra_ in him." Just then, Zabuza flew into the room in which the trio were meeting.

"Dan," he reported. "It appears as though Naruto is very upset at Danny; he is showing extreme signs of agitation and is beginning to show attributes of his _bijuu_ such as red eyes, thicker whisker marks, and fangs."

"Hm…Naruto is angry at Danny, Naruto has an unlimited amount of power that he could potentially unleash…perhaps I _can_ use the kid as part of my plans after all…but we need to work quickly, while he's still angry." He turned to face his three partners and cleared his throat. "Everyone, we've got some precious people to kidnap," he announced.


	16. Chapter 16

Hi, everybody! Hooray for not waiting a month or two between updates! 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!!**

'_huh...what?'_ Sasuke blearily thought. The last thing he remembered was being near death during his fight with Itachi. He'd used the last ounces of his strength to inch his way towards the object of his loathing, when all of a sudden everything was enveloped in bright green light. His body felt as though it was flying at incredible speeds, even faster than he'd run when he fought Gaara during the final round of the _Chuunin_ exams. The strain was too much for his heavily injured body, and he passed out. Gathering most of his strength, he forced his eyes open.

Almost immediately, he wished he hadn't.

_Pink._ That was the only way to describe it, Sasuke thought bitterly. The room he was in had pink wallpaper and a pink carpet. The desk was littered with pink school supplies and the computer was covered in pink sticky notes. And Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion that the bedsheets he felt on top of him were pink as well.

_Please don't be Sakura's room, please don't be Sakura's room, please, oh PLEASE don't be Sakura's room_, the Uchiha survivor silently pleaded to whatever gods might find it in their hearts to listen to one who betrayed his home and comrades.

"Oh, you're awake!" A feminine voice squealed happily as it's owner, the self-proclaimed beauty queen of Casper High and president of the Official Inviso-Bill Fanclub waltzed into Sasuke's field of vision. He searched his memory for the girl's name...Paulina, was it? Along with the name came a cascade of memories, most of them involving a level of fan-girliness that rivaled that of his schoolmates back at the Academy. Sasuke suddenly felt the powerful urge to practice his more destructive _katon _techniques.

'_Well_,' he thought wryly, '_at least it isn't Sakura's room_.'

Ino gawked at the metallic attachments that seemed to grow out of the top of the building like a disfigured stovepipe hat.

"Danny lives in _there_?" She exclaimed. The rest of the Leaf _shinobi_ echoed her sentiments. Sam nodded.

"Yeah...FentonWorks does tend to have that effect on people," Tucker added with a small grin.

"I heard a rumor that they were gonna take it down," Valerie told them. "Like I said before, the Fentons have been really inactive recently, and people are starting to say that they're going to abandon ghost hunting altogether."

"I guess seeing the Op Center all the time _would _trigger a lot of painful memories..." Sam mused. Before they could discuss it further, however, they were accosted by a contingent of Casper High's A-list, led by Star.

"What, the Nasty Burger gig isn't paying you enough so you have to go around giving tour guides to foriegn freaks?" The blonde cheerleader sneered, and received high-fives from various members of her clique. Lee stepped forward.

"YOSH! You must not speak that way of Valerie! She is our wise and humble tour guide, you would do well to show her some respect!" Star rolled her eyes in a way that screamed '_See? Point proven._'

"Wow, Star," Valerie, ignoring Lee's antics, replied cooly. "I'm surprised you can walk and talk at the same time without your boss giving you instructions. Where is Paulina, anyway?" Star brushed off the insult as she would a particularly unfashionable top.

"Remember that dreamy Japanese boy that came to our school a few months ago?" she asked excitedly. "Well, apparently she found him unconscious the other day, so she took him back to her house until he healed. So romantic..."

"Japanese boy?" Valerie asked sharply.

"I already said that! What, does being poor also make you dumb? Jeez...Sasuke is _sooo_ cute..." At the mention of the name, a bolt of tension struck the assembled _shinobi_.

"Uchiha...this changes things," Neji muttered.

"You're right," Sam confirmed. The group closed in on itself to analyze the new situation. Star, seeing that she was being ignored by her 'social inferiors', was infuriated at the lack of attention. Not bold enough to break into their circle and not wanting to look bad in front of the popular kids following her, she stuck her nose in the air and stalked off, the rest of the A-list trailing along in her wake.

"What should we do about this?" Chouji inquired.

"Leave it be for now," Shikamaru answered. "We know that Danny's family could potentially be in grave danger, should Dan, Zabuza, and the Akatsuki decide to use them for their own ends. Furthermore, Sasuke was injured badly when he tried to fight Itachi, so he'll be recovering for a little while." Neji nodded.

"The main priority here is to protect the Fenton's. We can always deal with the Uchiha later," the Hyuuga finished.

"T-that makes s-sense..." Hinata whispered. The group turned once again to Fentonworks, and reeled back in shock. Smoke was billowing up from the building, and it seemed to be caused by black flames licking its sides. As they watched, an explosion of green energy occurred somewhere inside the building, causing even more smoke to be released.

"This isn't good," Sam muttered, and the ninja (plus Valerie) sped off in the direction of FentonWorks.

They got there just as the culprits were leaving. Itachi and Kisame stepped out of the giant gash that had been burned through the wall of the building, followed by Dan. The specter's hands were glowing with green energy, and several feet above him floated the three remaining Fentons, all unconscious and all suspended within a green force field. Without batting an eye, Dan shot an ecto-blast at the ground in front of the _genin_ (plus Shikamaru and Valerie), raising a cloud of ash and dust. The _Akatsuki_ used the smokescreen to vanish, but before the younger nin had a chance to blow it away, Zabuza's _zanbatou_ did the job for them. The missing-nin gave a mighty horizontal swing with the flat end of his blade, which created a gust of wind more than powerful enough to blow the smokescreen away. Zabuza finished the swing with the sword held artfully behind his back in a fighting stance, and hovered a couple of feet off the ground.

"So those other guys left you to cover their retreat, eh, _ghost_?" Valerie spat as a sphere of pink energy enveloped her, much like Neji's _kaiten _did. When it vanished, she was clad in the black, high-tech armor that Technus had given her while he'd been attempting to hack into Axiom Lab's satellite. "Tough luck, now you're stuck fighting Amity Park's number one ghost hunter." Three cubes popped out of her armor, but before they could fire at Zabuza an identical copy of the nin burst out of the ground and tackled her.

"Darn it, I forgot he could make clones out of ectoplasm..." Sam muttered. Three more clones rose up from underground and regained tangibility, all of them wielding their swords and pointing them at the _Konoha shinobi_. Sam and Tucker simultaneously dropped their _henge_, and the teens immediately leaped into action.

Tenten whipped out a scroll and began rapidly summoning weapons from it, and launched the weapons at one of the clones. While it was busy deflecting the hail of pointy objects with his sword, Neji sped behind him and closed some of his _tenketsu_. When Tenten saw that he was unable to move, she summoned a _katana_ and dispatched the clone with one swing, causing it to melt into a puddle of ectoplasm. Neji's eye twitched as the stuff got all over his hands.

"Y'know, you should really see someone about that twitching," Tenten noted, earning her a glare from the Hyuuga prodigy strong enough to melt a few of her weapons.

Lee and Tucker, meanwhile, were trying to use _taijutsu_ to take out another one of the clones. However, the Zabuza clone was able to use his giant sword to block the majority of the blows, and whenever there was a lull in the spandex youths' moves, the clone would make wide, sweeping cuts that kept the two of them at a safe distance.

"We can't get close enough!" Tucker yelled.

"Leave it to me!" Sam shouted back, as she threw a _kunai _at the swordsman. Zabuza easily caught the knife, though, and threw it at Lee, who happened to be whizzing by. The _kunai_ missed, striking the ground where Lee had been a moment before, in-between Sam and Zabuza.

"What did you think that would do?" Zabuza taunted. He hefted his sword and leaped at Sam, intending to take her out with one strike, but before he could do so, the _kunai_ vanished in a poof of smoke and was replaced by Hinata. While Zabuza was in mid-air directly above her, she put nearly all her strength into a _jyuuken_ strike right at his heart. The clone disintegrated into ectoplasm, which fell right onto Hinata, drenching her. The others couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the girl covered in glowing green goop.

While all of this was going on, the third Zabuza clone was engaging with Chouji, who had multiplied his size with _baika no jutsu_, and was chasing the swordsman around using his family's technique, _nikudan sensha_. Zabuza kept trying to pierce the balloon that was Chouji using his sword, but Chouji suprised him by nimbly rolling out of the way of the blade at the last second. To avoid getting squashed, Zabuza leaped away and landed next to a lamppost. The lamppost's shadow writhed about and shot forward until it connected with Zabuza's.

"_Kagemane no jutsu, _success," Shikamaru drawled, his shadow merging with that of the lamppost. "Ino, would you do the honors?"

"With pleasure," the blonde chirped. She withdrew several _kunai_ from her thigh holster and launched them at the ecto-clone, but he simply went intangible before they hit. Angered by this, Ino tried a barrage of _shuriken_. Same effect. Ino sighed.

"Tenten!" She called. "Can I borrow one of your ghost-gun-thingies?"

"Sure, here you go!" Tenten called back, as she summoned a small ecto-gun and tossed it over. Ino lined the ghost up in her sights and fired, dispatching the clone.

The final duplicate was the one that had Valerie pinned to the pavement. The Red Huntress curled her legs up and kicked Zabuza in the chest, sending him flying. He flipped over in mid-air and floated about ten feet off the ground in a standing position. Valerie jumped into the air, and her jet-sled materialized below her feet in a wave of crackling energy. She took to the air and fired twin beams of pink ectoplasmic energy from the nose of the sled, around which the clone had to maneuver gracefully. They quickly engaged in an aerial dance, with Valerie taking every opportunity to fire at Zabuza. When he got close enough, the swordsman let loose a horizontal swing that would normally have cut Valerie's legs off at the knee, but she jumped just before the blade hit, flew above it, and landed nimbly back on her sled.

"Is that the best you've got?" She taunted. During the one moment when she let her guard down, though, Zabuza flashed invisible. Valerie growled.

"Don't run away, cowardly ghost!" She hissed.

"As you wish," he replied, and regained visibility directly behind her. He punched her in the middle of her back, causing her to fall off the sled, soar through the air, and crash into the side of a building.

"Aw _hell_, no," The huntress growled. She picked herself out of the building just as the sled self-corrected itself and flew over to her, and stepped on. She shot right at Zabuza, pinning him to the front of the sled. A beam of intense pink energy ricocheted off of the two prongs at the front of the jet sled, and when they reached Zabuza's clone, it exploded, getting ectoplasm all over Valerie and her sled.

"Gross..." She groaned, as she approached the ground and landed, and allowed her battle armor to hide itself in another sphere of whirling pink energy.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," She noted.

"Yeah, but where's the original?" Sam asked, Valerie immediately snapped her head around to look for the true Zabuza, but he had vanished.

"It appears that he fled while we were distracted fighting his clones!" Lee exclaimed. Tucker nodded.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" he asked. "We're right back to where we started, but the ghosts have another advantage over us."

"We should go look at that Amity Cave place," Neji answered. "Because it was so recently discovered, it's not a place Danny is familiar with. As such, they wouldn't expect us to go look there."

"Sounds like a plan," Tenten echoed. "What say we go there after dark, see what we can find?" Most of the assembled teens nodded or voiced their agreement.

"Fine," Chouji said, "but can we stop by the Nasty Burger on our way over there?" Everyone groaned.

_Meanwhile..._

"Success," Dan crowed as he used green energy to shove Jack, Jazz, and Maddie up against a stalagmite and bind them to it.

"Why was this necessary?" Itachi inquired tonelessly from over the specter's left shoulder.

"Oh, you'll see..." Dan hissed mirthfully. "Just stay hidden and watch the fireworks." The murderer of the Uchiha gave no outward signal that he'd heard Dan's command, but he and Kisame instantly vanished into the shadows. Finished with his work, he released the immobilizing bond he held over the Fenton's causing them to stir from their unconsciousness. Jazz was the first to wake fully, and she was greeted with a sight of a corrupted futuristic version of her baby brother's face less than a foot away from her own.

"Kyaah!" She yelped, startled. But upon seeing the emblem on Dan's chest, her suprise immediately switched to anger.

"Who are you? _What _are you? And what do you want with us?" She demanded.

"Why Jazz, I'm hurt that you don't remember our last encounter," said Dan, feigning umbrage. "Of course, Clockwork probably saw to it that when none of the Nasty Burger business took place, nobody except Danny remembered any of it..."

"Nasty Burger?" The redhead asked. "What does _that _have to do with anything.

"It has _everything_ to do with anything," Dan hissed back, his forked tongue slithering out from between his fangs and nearly brushing against the girl, who recoiled in disgust. "But I think the time for reminiscence is at an end, it appears that our parents are waking up as well." It was true, the older Fentons had begun to awaken.

"What do you want with us, _ghost_?" Jack asked the minute his eyes opened.

"Look, Jack, he has the same emblem as the ghost kid," Maddie added. "They're probably in cahoots with one another." Upon hearing this, Dan couldn't hold back a hearty laugh.

"You think...you think I'm working with that weakling, that waste of ectoplasm? Maddie...I _am_ Danny Phantom. Or at least, I was, before I finally relinquished that sniveling humanity of mine."

"Humanity? But...Phantom's a ghost, he doesn't _have_ any humanity." Dan simply shook his head sadly.

"How many times do I have to tell you? What kind of parents are you anyway? The world's leading ghost experts, and you didn't even know that your own son was half ghost...pathetic." Since the hood on Maddie's jumpsuit was down, Dan was able to see her eyes nearly bug out of her head.

"Danny is...half ghost?" She whispered.

"Danny _Fenton_...Danny _Phantom_...how couldn't you have noticed the similarities?" Dan parroted. After having been trapped inside of the Fenton Thermos for so long and with not much to keep him occupied, he'd replayed the fight scene between himself and his younger counterpart thousands of times, so it was no surprise that he could repeat this dialogue from memory. '_And here it is..._'

"For the record, I blame you," Jack said bluntly.

'_right on cue,'_ Dan thought wryly.

"You must've come from the future, then," Jazz argued. "So what are you doing here? Now?"

"Why would I reveal all of my plans so soon?" Dan questioned her. "It's so much more fun to watch you figure it out as we go. Speaking of plans, though..." he snapped, and two duplicates came into view. They raised their hands, and two more stalagmites, the ones holding Danny and Naruto hostage, shimmered out of invisibility. The duplicates had held their hands on the two boys' mouths to keep them from shouting out, and had been keeping them invisible at the same time. Just as the duplicates rejoined with their master, Zabuza flew into the cave.

"The brats took out all of my ecto-clones," he reported.

"No matter, the distraction was more than enough. Go rest and get some energy back. Zabuza nodded and vanished, with Dan disappearing in a cloud of green smoke not a moment later.

"DANNY!" Jazz, Maddie, and Jack shouted at the same time.

"Where have you been?"

"Why did you go away?"

"Did you bring back any fudge?" I'll let you guess who asked that one.

"Whoa, whoa, easy," Danny chuckled. "I can explain everything."

"Then please do," Maddie said. "We've been worried sick about you, you know."

"You gave us all one helluva scare, son," Jack added. Danny sighed.

"I know," he said. "I know I shouldn't have left without telling you. But that ghost you saw before, he was way too powerful for me to fight on my own. Sam, Tucker, and I went to go train with Naruto, so that we might be powerful enough to beat him. But," his face became downcast, "I don't think we are...he's more powerful as well, and he's made a few friends..."

"Danny...why didn't you just tell us? We would've understood."

"Yeah, if you had to get stronger to beat up a powerful ghost, of course we would've let you," Jack piped up. "What kind of Fenton's would we be if we didn't?"

"Wait," Naruto interjected. "You're not angry? You're all Danny's precious people, and you're forgiving him just like that?"

"That's what family does," Jazz said simply. "We forgive each other." Naruto turned away, so that none of them could see this single tear that rolled down his cheek. Despite his efforts, though, the small external display of sadness didn't go completely unnoticed. Dan never left the room when he poofed away. He simply turned invisible and hovered right next to Naruto.

"_Look at that,_" he hissed in the vulpine boy's ear. "_Look at everything he has...family, friends, people who care about him...you didn't have any of that, did you? You used to be alone, didn't you?_"

"I have people now, though," Naruto argued quietly to the voice, whom he assumed was his conscience or something. "I have Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura, and ero-sennin, the rookie nine, and fuzzy-eyebrows now."

"_But you appreciate them,_" Dan whispered back. "_You don't abandon your precious people. You don't run away from them in search of power...not like Danny did..._" Naruto's head shot up, though not for the reason Dan suspected.

"Danny...Sasuke..." the _jinchuuriki_ growled. Before he could blink, all of Naruto's rational thought shut down. Danny dressed in white shorts and a blue, high-collared t-shirt...Danny activating a _dojutsu_...Sasuke awakening his _sharingan_ while battling Haku...Danny leaving his family to come to Konoha to train...Sasuke betraying his village and fleeing to Orochimaru in search of the power to defeat his brother...Danny going ghost...Sasuke, in his second-stage curse seal...Image after image whirled through Naruto's mind, blurring the distinction between the two raven-haired teens. In the whirlwind of emotion, Naruto barely noticed as his eyes became crimson, his pupils slitted, his teeth and fingernails elongated. He mildly registered the explosion of red _chakra_ that erupted around him. The Fentons quailed in fear as he snapped his chains as though they were twigs.

"**I won't lose another one of my precious people!**_**" **_He screamed.

All right, it's all starting to come together. Who's ready for the climax? I know I am. Stay tuned! Oh, and wish me luck on my math prelim that I'm taking in an hour and a half...I'm gonna need it.


	17. Chapter 17

Drawing upon his last dregs of strength, Sasuke aimed a low-level Uchiha Glare directly at Paulina. Since the girl wasn't a ninja, and was rather weak even by civilian standards, that was all it took for her to run out of the room, blithering something about getting him more tea. As soon as the door closed behind her, Sasuke leaped out of the bed...and immediately regretted it, his body still sore. He managed to find his _kunai_ holster after only a few minutes of frantic searching, and escaped through the window, ninja-style, just before Paulina opened the door again.

Despite the fact that he was long gone by that point, the fangirl's piercing scream caused a shiver to run up and down his spine nonetheless. He shook it off, however, and took to walking around Amity Park, the basics of which he still remembered from Team 7's sojourn there not long ago.

'_Although it feels like it's been an eternity,_' he thought, realizing that the _Chuunin_ exams, the battle with Gaara, Naruto's retrieval of Tsunade, and his own treason all seemed as though they took a long time despite only occurring over a period of a few months.

He continued his journey until he sensed a large collection of _chakra_ approaching, at which point he hid in a nearby alley and activated his _Sharingan_. The increased detail offered by the _dojutsu_, though only visual, still allowed Sasuke to get a better sense of what was being discussed as his 'former' comrades passed by.

"I'm telling you, I just can't afford to get us all into Amity Cave until later," a girl he didn't recognize was complaining.

"No dice, Val," Tucker replied. "We need to get in there now, since there's a really good chance Danny might be held hostage there. Don't worry, we're ninjas-we can sneak into places without being noticed like it's our job."

"That's because it usually _is _our job," Shikamaru sighed. Tucker sweatdropped.

"Just...follow our lead and everything'll be fine," he assured the dark-skinned girl. Not having any other leads, Sasuke decided to follow them to this 'Amity Cave' place. In secret, of course...after all, he was a ninja-he could follow people without their knowledge and/or consent like it was his job...which it usually was.

Naruto leaped at Danny, claws outstretched, and swiped downward. Danny twisted out of the way at the last second, causing Naruto to miss and shatter his binds instead, the demonic _chakra_ easily cutting through the ecto-binds. Danny flipped around and ran vertically up the stalagmite around which he'd been bound, using _chakra_ to keep his feet stuck to the rock. When he made it about halfway up, he launched off of the stalagmite in an attempt to pinball around the cave and dodge the irrational demon-vessel, but Naruto had other plans. Faster than Danny had thought possible, Naruto had bounced from Danny's stalagmite to a nearby stalactite and back. When he was directly above Danny, Naruto slammed both fists into the halfa's stomach, knocking him onto the stone floor and forcing the wind out of him.

Naruto's trajectory ended at yet another stalactite, at which point he leapt to the ceiling of the cave directly above Danny and launched himself downward.

"**I'm going to stop you this time, Uchiha!**_" _He screamed.

"Uchiha? But...what?" Luckily for Danny, though, his reflexes kicked in before Naruto could reach him with those claws as the ghost-child turned intangible and sank into the ground. A second later he flew up and floated high above Naruto while in his ghost form. Danny launched twin ecto-blasts at Naruto, but the crimson _chakra_ that surrounded the orange-clad _genin_ simply absorbed the blasts. The halfa then withdrew six _kunai_, three in each hand, charged them with ectoplasm and let fly. The demonic _chakra_ absorbed the _kunai_, then launched them back at Danny, this time glowing red instead of green. Danny yelped and threw up a spherical shield in order to deflect the knives, and they clattered to the cave floor harmlessly.

"The power of the nine-tales...quite a sight to behold, eh, Itachi?" Kisame nudged his partner, the two of them using _chakra_ to stick to a stalactite some distance away from the fight.

"The leader will be pleased with the acquisition of it's power," Itachi replied tonelessly. "However, it is imperative that we weaken it so that it will be easier to capture."

"How are we gonna do that? Will you at least let me cut off the brat's legs this time around?" The shark-man asked hopefully.

"No, Kisame." The blue _Akatsuki_ pouted at this. "We will wait and see the outcome of this fight, then decide."

Meanwhile, Naruto had reached out with a hand, and the cloud of demonic _chakra_ that covered it stretched out until it reached Danny. The _chakra_-claw swiped, forcing Danny to maneuver in mid-air in order to dodge.

'There's no way I can beat him...not when he's running on _kyuubi_'s _chakra_...' Danny thought . 'I need-' His was interrupted mid-thought, however, by the entire cave being lit up briefly by pink energy. Valerie and the others had arrived, and the Red Huntress had donned her armor and was shooting her jet-sled's energy cannons left and right. Danny nearly sighed in relief, but then realized that Valerie was shooting at _him._ He gulped, realizing that his problems had just increased twofold.

"What's going on? Why is Naruto attacking Danny for no reason?" Sam asked the others.

"His attack pattern is totally irrational...I don't think he's all there," Shikamaru answered.

"Then we must subdue Naruto before he can seriously harm Danny!" Lee exclaimed.

"I don't think so," A deep, male voice countered.

"_No,_" Tucker and Sam both whispered.

"Yep!" Dan cackled happily as he materialized in front of the group. "You brats won't be getting in the way, not when I'm so close to destroying my pathetic past self, and in the process attaining a powerful weapon."

"You mean...Naruto?" Sam asked.

"Bingo. I think I'll use him, and that near-infinite supply of _chakra_ of his, when I conquer the world in this timeline." While he was busy ranting to the _shinobi_, he didn't notice as Tenten snuck behind him and placed two scrolls on the ground. She focused her _chakra_, causing the scrolls to explode in a large plume of smoke. Dan spun around at the sound, but all he was able to see was two large dragon-shaped clouds of smoke rising up into the air.

"Rising Twin Ghost Dragons!" Tenten shouted, as she summoned ghost-gun after ghost-gun from the summoning scrolls and hit Dan with every ounce of firepower she possessed. Phantom screamed as the energy blasts hit him dead on and sapped him of his power, and he sank to the ground and landed on all fours. Sam quickly pulled a Fenton Thermos out of her backpack and sucked him inside.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," she noted as Tenten landed on the ground next to her. Tucker shrugged.

"I'd rather it be anticlimactic than it have us be seconds away from being blown to bits, like last time, right? Now, let's stop Naruto. Come on!"

All of the ninja leaped at Naruto in an attempt to subdue him, but Naruto, in his blind rage, repulsed them all. Every time Lee or Tucker would get an opening for a punch or kick, Naruto would let out a burst of demonic _chakra_ that sent them flying away. His _chakra_ armor protected him against any projectiles Tenten launched at him, and it was all Neji could do to get close enough to close even a single Tenketsu before Naruto would swipe him away. Sam attempted to use a _suiton_ _jutsu_, but the demonic _chakra_ simply caused all of the water to evaporate. Shikamaru didn't bother using his _kagemane no jutsu_, knowing that Naruto would probably just break out of it, and he advised Ino and Chouji against using their family techniques as well, understanding that Naruto's mind was too unstable for Ino to safely traverse it, and that the crimson _chakra_ Naruto was leaking would probably be toxic if Chouji spent too much time in direct contact with it.

"We'll only be able to get through to him with more firepower, but we don't have enough," he told Sam.

"Firepower...wait, I think I know what to do! Valerie! We need you!" Unfortunately, Valerie, who was busy streaking across the cave after Danny, didn't answer, so caught up was she in the pursuit.

"Darn, she isn't listening to me," Sam grumbled. Danny, however, _did_ hear Sam's call, and quickly came up with a plan. He swerved around and landed on the ground right next to Naruto, ignoring the waves of killer intent rolling off the boy. Valerie shot a net out of her jet sled in an attempt to capture Danny, but the halfa leaped out of the way seconds before the net would've made contact, causing it to trap Naruto instead. Danny immediately flew away, knowing that although he was safe from Naruto's rage, he was still fair game as far as Valerie was concerned.

"Yes!" Ino cheered.

"Don't get excited just yet," Shikamaru advised, as Naruto thrashed about and tried to break free of his prison. "We have to wait for this...whatever it is...to die down." Luckily for the ninja, though, it wasn't long before the thrashing slowly began to die down, and Naruto relaxed inside the net. The cloud of bubbling red _chakra _rushed back into him, and he immediately held a hand to his head.

"_Eto..._I feel like I just got hit in the head with a sledgehammer, _dattebayo_..." the fox-boy grumbled.

"Naruto." Neji spoke in a voice that didn't leave room for questioning. Said orange-clad nin looked up and saw most of his precious people looking down at him through the net. "You used that same _chakra_ when we fought during the _Chuunin_ exams. What was it?" Naruto grimaced.

'_figures they'd put me in a net...just like an animal, no, a _monster_, is kept..._' None of these morbid thoughts made it past Naruto's impenetrable mask, however. Instead, his comrades saw him give a goofy grin and begin rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Well...you see..." he began faltingly, but was interrupted when a young man wearing a black cloak with red clouds landed in the center of their circle and grabbed a piece of the net.

During most of the fight, Hinata had hidden behind one of the larger stalagmites, finding herself unable to fight against the one person from whom she'd drawn strength over the years. '_but then again_,' she realized as Naruto attacked her friends, '_this isn't the Naruto I know. This chakra is...evil..._' when Danny tricked Valerie into trapping Naruto in the net, the Hyuuga heiress was relieved that the battle was finally over. However, not a second after she breathed a sigh of relief, a blue, scaly hand covered her mouth and she was pressed backwards into a broad, muscular chest.

"Can't have the rear guard come in and save the day, can we, _girlie_?" taunted Kisame.


	18. Chapter 18

"Uchiha Itachi," Neji stated. Said weasel inclined his head in a small bow.

"Hyuuga Neji," he countered. "Now, if there are no further objections, I will be taking Uzumaki back to our headquarters-" he began, but was cut off in mid-sentence by a small beam of green energy striking him in the middle of the back. Everyone turned around to see Jazz Fenton holding the smoking ecto-gun. Behind her stood Jack, wielding his custom Jack-o'-nine-tails, and Maddie twirling her double-ended ecto-saber.

"If you think an ectoplasmic barrier like that could stop a Fenton, you've got another think coming. Now eat this!" Jack shouted, and pressed the button on the silver, cylindrical base of the Jack-o'-nine-tails. With a flick of his wrist, nine tentacles, all crackling with electrical energy, emerged from the device and shot towards Itachi. However, without batting an eyelash, Itachi blew a fireball the size of a small child at the tentacles, destroying them.

"Or...maybe not..." Jack muttered as he threw away the useless weapon. An instant later, Maddie had leaped into action with a fierce battle cry. She rushed at Itachi and tried to land a hit on him with the staff, but the young man's _Sharingan_ broke down all of her attacks and enabled Itachi to dodge each of them with ease. After about thirty seconds of this, Itachi calmly gave Maddie a backhand to the face that sent her flying into one of the stalagmites.

"HEY! Nobody does that to my wife!" Jack all but screamed, as he withdrew a pair of ecto-guns from one of the pockets of his HAZMAT suit. He fired the two guns as Jazz fired hers, but Itachi leaped out of the way and reappeared a few feet to the left of his original position.

"_Amaterasu_," he muttered, and the three ecto-guns immediately erupted into black flames. Jack and Jazz quickly cast the guns away to avoid being burned.

Meanwhile, after Danny had tricked Valerie into trapping Naruto, the two continued to streak across the roof of the cave in a game of cat-and-mouse. Danny had the obvious advantage, given that he could phase through any nearby stalactites that Valerie had to go around, but the huntress was putting up an exceptionally good chase. Danny looked down and noticed his mother breaking out of her ecto-binds, then saw as she broke Jack and Jazz out.

"Oh no..." he muttered, as the three of them took on Itachi.

"They can't beat an S-ranked missing-nin," he groaned. "I need to help them..." a second later, he dodged to the right as one of Valerie's ecto-cannons seared the rock less than a foot away from his head.

"Valerie," he shouted to her, "I know you're not gonna like this, but we need to work together to beat that guy in the black cloak."

"And why would I want to do that, _ghost_?" Valerie spat.

"Uh, how about because he's going to kill Naruto, and he'll probably kill the Fenton's and everyone else just for fun." Valerie froze.

"Wait...you're saying this guy's a murderer? Like, a legit homicidal killer?" Danny sighed.

"I've heard that he killed his entire family when he was thirteen years old." Valerie brought a hand to her mouth.

"That's..." her eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're not lying, just to get me to help you?" Danny shrugged.

"If you let him go, he'll just make more ghosts that you'll have to fight. And I get the feeling that you've got enough on your plate as it is." Valerie seemed to consider this for a moment. Danny took the opportunity to look down, and watched as his family began to engage the _Sharingan_ master. He felt his palms begin to sweat as Itachi used _Amaterasu_ on Jack's and Jazz's ecto-guns.

'_C'mon...hurry up, Val!'_ He thought worriedly. Finally, Valerie grumbled her assent, and the two streaked down into the fray.

Danny quickly fired twin ecto-blasts at Itachi, then flashed invisible just as the older teen turned around to see who was shooting at him. The halfa then phased through an adjacent stalactite and repeated this motion, being careful not to make eye contact with the _Akatsuki_. Meanwhile, Valerie shot straight at Itachi, the ecto-guns attached to her jet-sled bathing the cave in pink light as they launched beam after beam of pure energy. Itachi twisted and flipped gracefully to avoid each blast, his _Sharingan _easily enabling him to see each blast coming so that he could get out of the way in time.

"Dodge this!" Valerie shouted as she set the thrusters on her jet-sled to full power and rammed into Itachi, trapping him in-between the sled's prongs. Immediately, Itachi's body began to disintegrate, as chunks of him shot away. The chunks of Itachi coalesced into a flock of birds, which began to circle around the sled.

"Crows?" Valerie wondered aloud.

"Ravens, actually," stated an emotionless voice directly behind her. Valerie spun around, shocked at the fact that Itachi was now standing on her jet-sled, not two feet behind her. She glared at him, unintentionally making direct eye contact.

"_Tsukiyomi_,"

Danny watched from above as Valerie turned to look at Itachi, then fell to her knees, screaming. He grimaced, then shot underneath the jet-sled and turned his arms intangible. Danny reached up through the bottom of the sled and plucked Valerie from it's surface.

"Betcha you don't know how to turn off those thrusters," he taunted. Itachi's eyes widened fractionally as the jet-sled he was standing on, still going at full tilt, slammed into a stalactite and exploded.

Shikamaru watched Danny and Valerie's aerial stunts carefully, taking note of when they launched bright beams of ghostly energy at each other, then at Uchiha Itachi. He brought his hands into the seal for his family's technique, and nodded to Neji. When Danny fired a green blast that lit up the cave, the Nara _chuunin___muttered "_kagemane no jutsu_" and his shadow leaped into the shadow of a stalagmite that was cast by the blast. When Valerie launched an accompanying pink beam, the shadow jumped to another stalagmite. A few blasts later, Shikamaru signaled to Neji and the Hyuuga, who leaped further into the cave.

"Itachi's really giving your friends the what-for, eh, _kunoichi_?" Kisame told the captured Hinata with a slight chuckle. A second later, a _kunai_ whisked above his head and embedded itself in the stalagmite directly in front of them.

"You," Neji stated, "Let my cousin go."

"I'd love to see you try and make me," Kisame cackled, "especially when I could snap her neck the instant you take a step forward." Hinata's eyes widened. Neji smirked and fell into a perfect _jyuuken_ stance. Kisame shrugged.

"Fine, you asked for it." Hinata tried to scream, but it was muffled by one of Kisame's hand. The former 'Monster of the Mist' attempted to bring the other hand up and snap her neck with it, but found the appendage frozen.

"What...what is this?" He shouted.

"_Kagemane no jutsu,_" Neji replied with a small smirk. Indeed, Shikamaru's shadow had quietly leaped from shadow to shadow until it engulfed Kisame's. The fish-man hadn't noticed that he'd been immobilized because he hadn't moved at all for the past few minutes anyway.

"You're inside my trigrams," Neji informed the missing-nin. "_Hakke: Rokujuuyon sho!_" Tucker shot forward and brought Hinata out of Kisame's grasp less than a second before Neji had taken her place in front of him and began sealing off his _tenketsu_.

"Can you do us a favor and cut through Naruto's net?" Tucker asked, "Tenten said that it's too sturdy for her weapons, so we think maybe you could use _chakra_ to do it."

"S-sure," The heiress replied, and Tucker dropped him off next to Naruto. Hinata gathered _chakra_ in her palm and swiped it across the surface of then net, easily cutting through it.

"Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, and immediately enveloped her in a friendly hug.

'_N-n--n-narut-t-to..._' was all the shy girl had time to think, before the blood rushed to her face and she passed out, her eyes resembling swirlies.

"Hey, Hinata, you alright?" Naruto deadpanned as he poked the prone girl. A quick karate chop to the neck caused him to lose consciousness as well, and fall on top of her. Uchiha Itachi stood above Naruto's prone form.

"You? How did you survive that explosion?" Jazz demanded.

"I jumped off the device before it slammed into the stalactite," Itachi stated, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"_Now_, if there are no further interruptions-"

"Sorry to interrupt, _brother_," spat a previously unheard voice.

"Sasuke." Itachi intoned, as he turned to face his younger brother. Said brother was leaning heavily on a stalagmite a hundred feet away from the assemblage of leaf-nins.

"You're still weakened from our last encounter. How do you expect to even pose a challenge to me?" Itachi questioned.

"I never said that _I _would be the one posing a challenge," Sasuke replied. He pushed himself off the wall and bit his thumb, drawing blood. He quickly made a series of hand seals, then pressed his hand against the stalagmite he'd been leaning on.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu_" he muttered, as a web of _kanji_ seals spread out from where his hand had touched the rock. There was a poof of smoke and a massive cobra, easily large enough to coil around the stalagmite and reach the top of the cave, appeared.

"It's too bad our parents never named you 'Mongoose', Sasuke taunted, "because then, _Sharingan_ or no _Sharingan_, you might've been fast enough to dodge Mitsurugi." He shrugged, and the giant cobra struck at Itachi. The _Akatsuki_ member dodged the strike by a hair.

"Kisame. It's time to go." His _Sharingan_ swirled as a glowing green portal appeared in front of him. Neji's smirk, which had grown slightly once all of Kisame's _chakra_ points had been sealed off, fizzled and died once Kisame melted into water.

"A water clone," Neji hissed, as the real Kisame appeared next to Itach. The two of them passed through the portal, and it closed behind them. A second later, the giant snake, Mitsurugi, disappeared in a massive puff of smoke. Before the smoke had time to clear, Neji appeared in front of Sasuke.

"Uchiha. As ninja of _Konoha_, it is our duty to apprehend you and return you to our village. If you refuse to come with us peacefully, we have the license to use force." Sasuke smirked,

"Nice try, Hyuuga. Unfortunately for you, I saw my brother create that portal with my _Sharingan_." A green portal, identical to Itachi's opened up between the two. "So unless you plan to follow me, we'll have to have this discussion another time." He stepped into the portal, and it disappeared behind him. Neji sighed and turned around.

"Wake up my cousin and Naruto," he said. "Let's go."

"What about Valerie?" Tucker asked him.

"I saw Itachi use _Tsukiyomi_ on her," Danny replied.

"Oh," Tucker said, knowing that there was nothing they could do for her at the moment. He put the Red Huntress on her shoulders as Sam and Jazz attempted to wake Naruto and Hinata. Once the two had risen, the ninjas and the Fenton's trudged out of the cave.

The sun was setting, bathing Amity Park in intense reds and oranges. The group was oddly silent as the weary warriors made their way back to FentonWorks. Naruto, his hands deep in his pockets, moved next to Danny.

"Sorry I overreacted..." he mumbled.

"Dude, it's okay." Danny said. "I think I understand why you felt the way you did...but even so, don't assume I've never had to fight a ghost while the lives of my precious people were on the line...even if they don't remember it." Before Naruto could reply, the person walking in front of him stopped, and he walked face-first into them.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" He demanded. Tucker turned around and pointed skyward. Danny and Naruto looked up and saw Zabuza, floating a dozen feet above them.

"You might've gotten rid of the others, but don't assume that you can dispatch _me _so easily," he said.


End file.
